Soul Reaping Janitor of the Justice League
by Bunni Munchies
Summary: We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal. Trust no one and question all for trust in yourself is all you'll ever need.
1. Super Short Beta

Before I start I want to say that I know that some people do not like having an OC in Crossover Fanfictions and I understand because I'm don't really like them either sometimes..

I have had this idea, however, for quite some time; therefore I decided to act upon it.

I do not expect reviews, though I would greatly appreciate it and it does motivate me to continue.

I haven't actually written a fanfiction series in a very long time. The one-shots that are made before December 2010 were all copied fanfictions from my Quizilla account many years ago.

All information about both the DC characters and the Bleach characters was taken from their respectable 'Wiki' sites. So all the information on height and such will be based off of their respectable websites.

I try not to use Japanese words too much (Because I personally hate it when people try to 'show off their knowledge of the Japanese language' by inserting every Japanese word they know in replace of an English word. The only ones that I will use, because I'm alright with it, is honorifics because they don't translate very well into English because the English language doesn't use them in the same way that the Japanese language uses them).

Other words that I will use that are from the Japanese origin are words like Zanpaktou, Hogyoku, Gigai, Shinigami, etc. to make it easier to understand (I understand that sometimes its easier to know what I'm talking about if I use the Japanese names for certain objects).

Alright sorry for my constant ranting but three more things 1) I would love a Beta-Reader

**2) I own neither Bleach nor Justice League/Justice League Unlimited. I simply own the main character. Justice League and JLU will be from the Timmverse/DCAU. So most of the information will be taken off of that (Which will explain why some things like why the Kara's secret identity is not Linda Danvers but rather Kara Kent).**

3) Some of these interpretations or events, like Soul Societies of other nations, were made up by me. This is what I think happens, and I just wanted to let you guys know because it isn't based on what actually happens. I have given it a little too much though

* * *

Fate is a bizarre phenomenon.

Some people believe in fate while others believe that you shape your own future.

I've heard people claim that they've changed fate, or their future, or something along those lines, but how would you know?

People say that your life is not written in stone, but I believe that it is. How can you know what you've changed if you don't know what was meant to happen?

Perhaps a fortune teller, tells you that you will die tomorrow, so what do you do? You stay at home, you're cautious, and it just so happens that you actually planned to go out with your friends that day, but you didn't because you wanted to "change your fate". At that moment, a fire starts at your house and you're not able to get out because something prevented your escape and you died.

That fortune teller was meant to tell you that you would die and because you believed them, you did.

I believe in fate; in not being able to change your future.

I believe that I was meant to be exiled from the Soul Society.

I believe that I was meant to be betrayed by Aizen.

I believe that I was meant to bump into the Supers that day.

I believe that I was meant to meet the Justice League.

But fate has a funny way of showing you that it was all meant to be.

* * *

xX- Metropolis | 3:14 PM -Xx

My head rested on the alleyway wall with my feet outstretched in front of me.

My choppy uneven black hair fell in front of my face. I cut it a while back because it kept getting in my way, but it was a dumb idea for me to cut it on my own. I meant to cut it to my shoulders, but I ended up cutting it too much; I now have boy-cut styled hair.

My clothes were ragged and torn with holes in my shoes, tears on my T-shirt and jacket, and my baggy jeans were well over worn; I wasn't very good with taking care of my clothes.

Sebastian, my zanpaktou, is constantly scolding me about my appearance, but, as anyone can clearly tell, I was not one for appearances. I guess even after 100 or so years after my exile from the Soul Society, I still kept the attitude of a Squad 11 member.

I used to be a Lieutenant of Squad 11 and now I'm reduced to being in an alleyway sitting alone and hungry.

It all started because of the Hollowfication incident. Urahara still feels responsible for what the Vizards, Tessai, Yoruichi, and I went through, but we all know that there's no one but Aizen and his lackeys to blame.

Urahara offered me a place to stay at his shop, food to eat, and money in order for me to get by, but I refused them all.

It wasn't just my pride that caused me to refuse it, but it was also my sense of guilt. Taking any of those things would have made me feel guilty; it would have made it seem like I blamed Urahara for my predicament and I demanded compensation. I'll make it clear now; I don't blame Urahara for anything that happened 100 years ago.

Urahara blames himself for what happened because it was his research and creation of the Hogyoku that seemed to start it all, but I knew, as well as the other Vizards, the outcome would have come out the same either way; Aizen was a genius, a bastard still, but a genius nonetheless; he would have figured out another way to take over the Soul Society.

There were a couple things that Urahara offered me that I did take—a Shinigami cell phone and a specialized Gigai.

The Shinigami cell phone worked both as a hollow tracker and a regular cell phone that Urahara calls on once every few years to check up on me.

The specialized Gigai was one that was just like Urahara's, Yoruichi's, Tessai's, and the Vizards'. It allowed us to maintain our Shinigami abilities, remain undetectable by Soul Society, and it allowed us to be seen by normal humans (like regular Gigais).

I refused Urahara's offer for a place to stay for a few reasons. The first was because after my banishment from the Soul Society, I felt the need to go 'find myself'. I wasn't a Vizard myself, so I didn't feel like I belonged in their home, and as great as Urahara and his company was, his shop drew too much attention from passing Shinigami that needed supplies.

I don't hate Shinigami in the slightest, after all I'd be hypocritical if I did for I'm a Shinigami, but after my exile, I never felt like I quite belonged amongst them.

I traveled the world to find a place where I did belong and I eventually ended up here in Metropolis. I'm not sure how long I'll stay here, but I know it won't be for too long. I was never one for a permanent residence, even when I was in the Soul Society; I get restless.

I wasn't the same as other Shinigami; looking down at my right arm, feeling the non-existent organs swirling in my gut, the answer was obvious.

The second reason was that I knew that a war was just over the horizon. Everyone involved in the Hollowfication incident of the Vizards 100 years ago knew it. I traveled the world to get reinforcement in case the need arose, under the radar of course; the Soul Society knew nothing of it for if they knew, so would Aizen. If Aizen did succeed in overthrowing the Spirit King, what's stopping him from overthrowing the other rulers of the other heavens? As far as I knew, Aizen could have already taken some of them over.

It was strange though. My entire time in the United States, or really anywhere else in the world besides Japan, I have yet to any of other versions of Death Gods. I believed that the United States used angels or grim reapers or something. I know that they are different entities entirely, but I should still be able to see them; spiritual energy is the same no matter the nation.

I have seen a couple of ghosts which more or less was a bit comforting to know that I haven't somehow lost my spiritual awareness. I knew that I had Sebastian, but it could be a case of which I could only hear, but not see, or maybe I could have only seen Sebastian because of the special Gigais, but whatever the case, I couldn't see anything other than a few ghosts here or there.

I wasn't allowed to perform a soul burial on any of them because of the problems that it would cause. If a Shinigami was to send a ghost from the United States, it would end up in the Soul Society of Japan. Not only would it cause language issues, but also chaos. The spiritual leaders—like the Soul Society's Spirit King and the United State's God—need to keep track of the people that go in (die) and out (die in their spiritual world to be reborn again) to maintain order and a balance amongst power.

This balance amongst power is essential, not too much unlike the United State's governmental system of checks and balances. Those who die, let's say in Japan, will be reborn in the Soul Society, and when they die in the Soul Society they are reborn as humans. With each death and rebirth, the person leaves a small part of themselves in the Soul Society until when they die for the last time in the Soul Society, and they will no longer be reborn as a human.

It was pure fundamentals, the more spiritual energy a place has, the more power that place maintained.

So by making sure that no single spiritual 'palace' or 'heaven' gets too powerful, each 'heaven' is only allowed to regulate what happens with their own souls. If a soul was accidentally sent to the wrong heaven, simple paper work would sort that out. From time to time this happens, but as long as it doesn't cause too big of an issue, the Spiritual Gods don't care too much.

Plus those from the Americas can't become Shinigami because, though they have spiritual energy, the atmosphere in which they lived in prior to their death doesn't allow them the ability to become Shinigami, likewise, those from Japan or the Asiatic nations can't become angels and so on and so forth. That too becomes a problem if souls were sent to the wrong heaven.

The lack of Death Gods worried me greatly. If there wasn't anyone to send the ghosts, they would become hollows, so the question now was "Where are all the hollows?"

Death Gods—like Shinigami and angels—work on different terrains, but hollows were universal. Hollows are all able to communicate with one another without a language barrier hindering them, unlike other spirits.

Hollow killing was unique because it didn't matter if Shinigami kill the hollows from America or the American angels kill Russian hollows or the lower Gods of Greece and Rome kill Chinese hollows; if a hollow was killed with a Soul Cutter (Angels use their own kind as we Shinigami use ours), it would send the hollow's purified spirit to the heaven that the ghost was intended to go to.

So the lack of all spiritual entities, aside from me and a few ghosts was nerve-racking and highly suspicious.

Urahara and I suspect that it is Aizen's doing, but there was always the slight possibility that the increasing meta-humans could be the reason. Though there was no definite connection, when the rate of hollows and such decreased, the rate of meta-humans increased. I don't know about you, but I don't believe in coincidences.

I yawned slightly and slowly took out a hunter-pocket watch from my pocket to check the time. This was Sebastian, my zanpaktou.

He was a hunter-pocket watch that shined gold. On the cover of the pocket watch was the Gothic Letter F and on the back cover was the Gothic Letter T. The watch was attacked to a rather long chain that extended anywhere between 5 to 10 feet. Though it is obvious that Sebastian isn't a combatant zanpaktou like most others, the chain's length allowed for me to use him similarly to a ball and chain when necessary.

Sebastian was in constant shikai release for two reasons: 1) I couldn't very well carry around a sword in the middle of a bustling city—especially one like Metropolis—and 2) Sebastian felt that this form was less barbaric and showed his 'true side' much better.

Sebastian is, for a lack of better terms, a stuck up prick. He expects high quality manners from everyone, and he gets mad when he doesn't get it.

Sebastian is obsessed with grace and poise and all that other good and jolly stuff that came with being a 'gentleman' or a 'lady', which makes me worried.

They say that a zanpaktou represents a Shinigami's soul; it represents who they truly are. With Sebastian being the prick that he is, it makes me wonder if that's how I really am. I really hoped that I wasn't like that.

I clicked open Sebastian's metal cover and stared at his face, no pun intended.

"_You're hungry aren't you? You really should get something to eat."_

I smiled slightly, despite Sebastian's stuck up attitude, he truly cared about me and my well-being.

"I'm fine; I'll get something to eat later on." I whispered down to him. I was tired from the lack of food and Metropolis seemed to be devoid of any spiritual energy.

I could go days without food because my body didn't function like a human's would, but that was when there was spiritual energy floating around; it satisfied my hunger for a little while.

"_Hmph, you should have taken Urahara-dono's offer. At least then you wouldn't be hungry. If it weren't for me, I bet you wouldn't even notice that you were hungry. You're known to space out for days on end! Tell me how the hell does that even work? What are you thinking about that could take you days for finish? Honestly, where would you be without me? I always have to baby-sit and look out for you. Remember that time when you were walking and you almost ran into a __**wall**__? Then there was the car, then the street lamp, then the bench, the truck, and the manhole! My god do you remember the manhole? That had to be the worst! We were covered in muck for weeks because you couldn't find a shower! You're so irresponsible. And look at how you're dressed! Inappropriate, absolutely inappropriate for a lady! Not only that but we're sitting in an __**alleyway**__. An alleyway, how degrading! Are you spacing out again? You are aren't you! Now you listen here young lady..." _

Eventually I tuned Sebastian out. He was known for going on for hours on end about how I was 'un-ladylike' and how he hated our lifestyle because it was, I believe he said, 'unsanitary, unethical, and no better than a common street rat'. I usually only caught the first 5 seconds when he starts to go off, if that. I swear you do one bad thing and it doesn't matter how much good you've done, you'll always be condemned for that one wrong. Albeit, I cause more wrong than good, but that's beside the point.

I wasn't sure how long Sebastian was talking but I soon heard footsteps coming towards the alleyway.

"_Lady Maximilienne, do you hear that?"_ Instantly his tone did a 180 and I quickly became more alert to my surroundings.

I pocketed Sebastian and told him mentally, _'Yeah.'_

I closed my murky brown eyes, but I was still fully aware of my surrounds. If it was someone that meant no harm, they would just see a bum on the streets and continue along. If it was someone that meant harm, I would be fully ready to defend myself, not that human could ever do any real harm, but lately I've been hearing about these 'super-villains'. It was better not to take any chances.

The footsteps got closer and judging from the pattern of how the feet fell on the ground, there was more than one person.

Before I could do anything, a felt something bump into my outstretched legs and I hear a loud _thump_ followed by a feminine, "Ouch."

I opened one eye to see a brown haired, glasses wearing girl sprawled out on the ground. She turned around slightly and we made eye-contact for a brief moment.

"Hey get back here! Call me ugly will ya? Sacrilegious bitch!"

'_Do they even know what sacrilegious means?'_

"We'll fuckin' kill you!"

'_And yet no one does anything to help with such threats? Spewing such foul nonsense, it's very unbecoming.'_

'_Sebastian, it's not our place to say.'_

I looked over to the entrance of the alleyway to see 3 big fat guys running toward the alleyway. My guess was that they were chasing the girl.

I wasn't usually one to get into other people's businesses, but I was really irritated because I'm tired and hungry. No one breaks me out of my alone time thinking of nothing.

I stood up as the fat guys got closer. For guys as big as they are, they were surprisingly fast for humans.

"Hey kid get out of the way!" Fat guy number 1 yelled.

His little-big friend started to back him up, "Yeah, if you get in our way we'll beat you up along with Kent!"

I looked at them and scoffed, _'As if these humans stand even an ounce of a chance against me. Even if I were in a Gigai that denied me my Shinigami abilities I'd still be able to beat them.'_

"_Don't get cocky Lady Maximilienne." _

'_Yeah yeah, I know. But just look at their so called 'fighting-stance'. It's pathetic. They make Squad 4's combat abilities seem on par with a Captain's.' _Now I wasn't being degrading towards Squad 4, after all they were, in my opinion, the most important Squad in the Gotei 13, but let's face it, they're lovers not fighters.

Humans were such weak creatures whose only weapon was their mouths. Unlike Squad 4, they didn't have any skill that they particularly excelled at. But who was I to talk about humans like that? Shinigami are meant to protect humans and at some point we were humans, so I was once a weak creature whose only weapon was her mouth.

My conversation with Sebastian was interrupted by the other Big Boy, "That's it. We warned you. Now you're gonna get it ya little midget."

Now that ticked me off, "What did you just call me?"

"You heard me. Ya. Little. **Midget**." Now I am normally a very calm person…but I have a bit of a Napoleon Complex.

I hated being called a kid, but being called a midget was just crossing the line. I was only 4'5", but that wasn't my fault. I died in the Living World as a kid and grew up in the 80th District of the Rukongai, Zaraki, whose name I adopted for my surname; nutrition was hard to come by. Besides, I heard from Urahara that there was a captain that was 4'4" and Hiyori was 4'4" too. I might not be as tall as Ururu, but I'm almost as tall as her with one more inch to go, **and **I'm taller than Jinta. So I'd say that my height is perfectly normal!

I looked at the girl who was still on the ground and then I turned to look at fat guys and smirked.

"Then what are you waiting for?" I used two fingers to gesture them to 'come-at-me'. There was no need to use words larger than 2 syllables; these boys misused the word sacrilegious; there's no need to **prove** I'm smarter than they are.

The three boys charged at me. I hit the first boy in the gut and as he knelt over, then I jumped on his head and forced his face into the ground.

Using the momentum that I got from using his head as a spring board, I jumped on one of the remaining two guy's faces and sent him falling backwards into the ground.

Once the guy landed in the ground, I flipped on the ground landing on my hands and I pushed up on the ground, doing a handstand, and I spun on them. My feet collided with the third guy's face and his head hit the wall leaving a small indentation.

I slapped my hands together to wipe away the imaginary dust on them, "Well you guys certainly weren't any fun at all." I turned around to look at the fallen girl to see that she was looking at me with her back to the wall of the back of the alleyway, "You okay?"

"Ummm….yeah. Woah." She said looking down at the three unconscious boys.

I was just about to walk back to my prior spot when she called me, "Wait, that was…amazing. Just who are you?"

I didn't really want to tell my name to a complete stranger, but I could see no harm. Just before I was about to tell her, Sebastian scolded me, _"Ask her for her name first. It is common courtesy to tell your name before asking. What a rude little girl; just where are her manners?"_

I scratched my head slightly, _'Typical Sebastian.'_ Still I complied, I knew that if I didn't he'd never shut up about it.

"You first, who are you?"

"Oh me? My name is Kara Kent. Nice to meet you…umm."

"Max. Just call me Max." I looked at her as she got up from her sitting position and I saw something off her head. She stood up and outstretched her hand towards mine, "Well it's nice to meet you Max, and thanks a bunch."

I looked at her hand and when she saw that I made no move to shake it, she withdrew.

'_Lady Maximilienne! It is common courtesy to shake one's hand when they so forth invited you to do so.'_

'_I'm not going to shake hands with a complete stranger Sebastian.'_

I turned around and went back to the spot I was at before Ms. Kent so gracefully tripped over my leg and resumed my previous position. There was something brown and furry on the ground I was guessing that it was Ms. Kent's hair…strange.

I got a closer look at her and I saw that she had blonde hair.

I could hear Sebastian give a snort of disapproval, _'Children these days. They all think that they need to look like someone else. In the good old days the only people that wore fake hair were those without any. Even then it was rare. Of course unless you were a judge or someone of high prestige but that is completely different. I doubt this child is any of those.'_

'_Leave her alone Sebastian, she has her reasons.'_

'_Disgraceful, I thoroughly disapprove.'_

'_Sebastian, it's not our place to pry.'_ I gently scolded him in my head. Sebastian always had an issue with people who pretended to be someone that they weren't ever since the incident about 100 years ago with our exile.

As I reached for her 'hair' on the ground, my stomach growled loudly. I saw Ms. Kent beam slightly, like she just had an epiphany.

"Hey, you're hungry right? How about I get you something to eat as thanks?"

"Do I have to?" I looked up at her. Yes I was hungry, but I was weary around most humans; over the years I have found them to be very superficial, not unlike us Shinigami.

She came up to me and pulled at my arm to get me up, "Come on, I'll pay."

I got up with her 'hair' in my hand. As she was about to walk away I quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her back, "You might want to fix your wig Ms. Kent."

I got a closer look at her face. Minus the glasses, she looked just like the girl a couple weeks ago that caught the super-villain Volcana.

I quietly whispered under my breath, but I'm sure being who she was, she could hear it, "Supergirl."

* * *

xX - Kara's POV - Xx

I ran down the streets as Stupid, Stupider, and Stupidest were chasing me down. I guess I shouldn't have made fun of them, huh? Last time I open my mouth before thinking, but I'm still a teenager; we don't think before we speak.

I knew of an alleyway that wasn't too far from here that I usually went to afterschool if I wasn't staying over at Clark's place.

I used the alleyway and swap identities to Supergirl, and this time I was going to have Supergirl conveniently save me. It would be all too easy for me to take them down now, but Clark told me that I shouldn't do anything to draw too much attention to myself. Yup, absolutely no attention on me right now.

I turned the corner and just as I was about to get to the end of the alleyway, I tripped over something. I turned my head and saw a little child dozing in the alleyway with their legs outstretched, which was what I guessed I tripped over.

Judging from the tattered clothes, I think the kid was homeless. Maybe, however, the kid might have been mugged, but I doubt that. This is Metropolis, not Gotham, the chances aren't as high.

I couldn't tell what gender the kid was because though the child looked like a male physically—baggy clothes, boy cut hair, the works—but the face had a sense of feminism to it. It could have been that it was still because the kid was young. The kid was looked Asian and he looked about 10, maybe 11 or 12, years old.

The kid opened one eye and we made brief eye-contact before I could hear the idiots yelling out for me again. Does Johnson even know what sacrilegious means? I'm atheist what's that have to do with him being ugly?

As the boys got closer, the kid stood up. This was bad, I didn't want to drag anyone into this and as long as the kid was in the alleyway I couldn't change to save her. Clark was up in the watchtower, so he was no help at the moment.

"Hey kid get out of the way!" Johnson yelled at the kid.

Richard backed him up and yelled, "Yeah, if you get in our way we'll beat you up along with Kent!"

The kid scoffed and overall held a bored expression.

'_Great a kid that thinks he's all that. Not good, run kid run.' _ Though they weren't strong by Kryptonian standards, Johnson, Richard, and Brian were stronger than most people our age and especially this baby-faced kid.

Brian, the impatient one of the bunch, spoke up after the kid refused to move, "That's it. We warned you. Now you're gonna get it ya little midget."

"What did you just call me?" Still from the voice I couldn't tell the gender. It was monotonous like the kid was bored, but it was at a higher pitch than a regular voice. If it was a girl, the pitch would make sense. If it was a boy, maybe he obviously hadn't hit puberty yet.

"You heard me. Ya. Little. **Midget**."

The kid turned around and looked at me briefly before turning back. I think something snapped in the kid.

"Then what are you waiting for?" The kid used two fingers and urged them to come at him.

'_This kid is fricken' suicidal. Dammit Clark, where are you when I need your help?' _I couldn't very well yell out his name, it would arouse too much suspicion since everyone knew that Superman was busy on the Watchtower; the Justice League was beginning to recruit new leaguers after the incident with the Thanagarians. Superman wouldn't drop all of his work for some 'random stranger' even if it was in his city. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of people in Metropolis, it was too risky and even if it wouldn't be obvious, it would arouse suspicion.

I remember Barbara, better known as Batgirl, telling me when we were hanging out one time that it was better to avoid a situation that would arouse any suspicion no matter how small; it made covering a situation up twice as hard if there was even an ounce of suspicion.

My worries, however, were misplaced as I saw the kid beat up Brian, then Johnson, and finally Richard. I was thoroughly shocked. I highly doubted that the kid was normal, and I wondered if I could pass it off as adrenaline rush. But this wasn't the time to question my 'savior'.

"Well you guys certainly weren't any fun at all." The kid muttered under his breath.

'_Stupid Kara, only you would worry about something like that when you almost got pumbled. Not like I couldn't take those guys on, but still." _

"You okay?" The kid turned to look at me.

"Ummm….yeah. Woah." I was in a slight daze. The kid was certainly short, which was why I probably missed him when I tripped over his foot. Clark was right; I should pay more attention to my surroundings.

I saw the kid making a move to go sit back down, probably to doze off. I wanted to ask the kid before the kid went back to sleep, "Wait, that was…amazing. Just who are you?"

It took the kid a while to answer, _'Does the kid have a name?'_ From what I know, it wasn't uncommon for kids who were abandoned on the streets to lack a proper name. Though you don't see too many of them in Metropolis, that didn't mean that they didn't exist.

"You first, who are you?"

"Oh me? My name is Kara Kent. Nice to meet you…umm."

"Max. Just call me Max." The name didn't help with the gender. Max is unisex. It could be short for Maximillian or Maxine or another variation of it. I got up from my position on the floor and walked up to the kid. I got a closer look at the kid's body structure and it was easier to tell from here, now that the lighting was a bit better, that the kid was female. She was kind of cute; like a little teddy bear. She was shorter than me by a whole foot exactly.

I outstretched my hand, "Well it's nice to meet you Max, and thanks a bunch."

Though it would have been better and easier if she wasn't involved at all, she didn't need to know that. Clark told me that I always had to play as the weak victim so that I wouldn't reveal my secret identity. I highly doubted that this kid could have figured it out regardless; she was only a kid.

She refused to shake it. I assumed it was because she'd never seen this gesture before so I didn't take any offense to it. I saw her walking back to the place she was at before the incident.

I saw her look down before her stomach gave a loud growl, "Hey, you're hungry right? How about I get you something to eat as thanks?"

"Do I have to?"

I smiled and pulled her up, "Come on, I'll pay."

I began to walk away to lead her to a place to eat until she grabbed my arm and pulled me back, "You might want to fix your wig Ms. Kent."

I heard her whisper, "Supergirl."

At that moment I panicked. I didn't know what to do, _'Stupid, stupid, stupid Kara. Of all the things to happen your wig just happens to fall off. It must have gotten loose when I fell and it could have fallen off when I got up. Oh crap, oh crap, Clark is going to be so totally mad at me. Maybe if I play it cool she won't notice.'_

Right before I opened my mouth to make an excuse, she stopped me, "Are you going to take it or not?" I lost my train of excuses and just tried to plead with her. I wasn't as good as this hiding identity thing as most of the other heroes were; I hadn't been a hero for very long.

* * *

xX - Max's POV - Xx

"Please, please, you can't tell anyone about this." She hastily took back her wig and put it on.

I looked at her and raised my eyebrow slightly, "Yes, because I have people to tell."

'_Sarcasm is very un-ladylike Lady Maximilienne.'_

'_Shove it.'_ I snapped my attention back to Ms. Kent, "So does this mean you're taking back the offer to buy me lunch?"

She looked at me and smiled a bit with relief, "Don't worry, I'll still buy you lunch. Thanks again."

"Enough," I walked up in front of her and turned my head slightly around and smiled with bored eyes, "I'm hungry."

She smiled back at me, "So what do you want?"

"What can you afford Ms. Kent?" I meant no malice behind it and I wasn't demeaning her. Most humans, or I guess Kryptonian because she** was **Supergirl, carried little money with them. This wasn't to say that they didn't have any, just that they didn't always carry a lot with them. This was probably for the best though; getting mugged wasn't exactly a human pastime.

She pouted slightly. "My apologies Ms. Kent if I've offended you, but from what I can tell you are a student. Most don't make too much, if any, money and they are usually supported by a parental figure."

"Huh? Oh no, it's not that. Kara, call me Kara. None of that Ms. Kent stuff, that's for Ma." I was used to Japanese culture where it was rude to call a person who you weren't familiar with by their first name without any honorifics. It was times like these when I reminded myself; I'm not in Japan anymore. I'm in the United States, and I better act accordingly to not draw attention.

Drawing attention was the last thing that I needed. I don't want to reveal my location to the Soul Society or anyone associated with it, besides Yoruichi, Urahara, and those from his shop. If anyone from the Soul Society knew, then they will report it to Head Captain Yamamoto who would report it in a Captain's meeting, which means that Aizen and his lackeys would know of my position.

The last thing that I needed was all of Soul Society after me while I was conducting my investigation.

I nodded my head towards Ms. Ke…Kara. "Alright, Kara."

She nodded her head at approval, "Well I don't have too much on me really, but I have enough for cup noodles, if that's alright with you."

"I see, because I'm Japanese?"

Kara freaked, "No, no, no! Not because of that, I'm sorry I didn't…"

I smiled a chuckled a bit as she pouted, "Seriously, you have to have more pitches in your tone. I can't tell when you're joking."

"You'll learn. That is, if you want to hang around with me that much." I'm only monotone when I'm hungry and/or tired. I wasn't about to be grand and chipper while my stomach was caving in on itself.

She ran up and hooked arms with me, "Guess that means we're friends."

My smile turned a bit goofy, the mere mention of food was getting me excited; Sebastian didn't often let me steal money or food, so any chance that came by to fill my crying belly made me euphoric. "Guess that means I'm stuck in Metropolis for a while."

'_Lady Maximilienne, friends are good for you. It's been a while since you've personally talked with anyone other than me.'_

'_I know Sebastian. Besides, I think it would be quite beneficial for me to obtain a friend of Kara's status. Never know when we're going to need it.'_

'_Lady Maximilienne, I do hope you don't intend to use Ms. Kent.'_

'_You know me better than that. I'm just saying that should the occasion arise that I may need the assistance of some aliens or superheroes because Aizen somehow magically did something evil __**again**_ _that, for whatever reason, the Soul Society couldn't handle, it would be reassuring to know that I have more backup. I doubt that we'd need the help of the Justice League, but I don't think it would hurt to have some.'_

'_No it certainly wouldn't. I believe that they too will become involved.'_

'_I know they'll become involved. The dead and the living are interconnected. I was planning on getting the help from the Amazonian women, but the Justice League might be a nice alternative.'_

We ended up going to a small convenience store that was close by to buy the cup noodles. They even filled it with hot water for you…wow, so amazing.

"Thanks Kara."

"No problem, I mean you did 'save' me." She winked at me and I smiled a bit.

'_You have such a pretty smile Lady Maximilienne. I just hope you don't fall in love with her. It'd be like a drama. Such sweet sorrow, you would tell her that you love her and she will say it too. You two tell one another that you can't be with each other but you just can't resist. You'll fall on the bed, and then there will be girl-on-gi…'_

I smacked the pocket that Sebastian was in to shut him up. I was straighter than a pole, not that I had any problems with anyone that wasn't, but I hated it when Sebastian did this.

Sebastian was really upright and proper, but when it came to comparing things to scenes in a drama movie, he was really into it. I showed him about 20 or so years ago and he just couldn't stop watching them whenever we go the chance. I swear he was like Love with his Shonen Jump magazines.

The man behind the convenience store counter was finished filling up the hot water for my cup of noodles and I tried getting it from.

I even tip-toed and I still couldn't reach. The man was a good 6'2", would it kill him to bend down about two feet?

Kara instead got it for me, "Here you go."

I muttered a quiet and annoyed, "Thanks."

"You're really small aren't you?"

"Hey! I'm not small, I'm just vertically challenged." I was now in a much more uplifted mood now that I was going to have food in my tummy.

Kara just laughed as she got her cup of noodles from the man behind the counter. Just then we heard the door open and a gun was fired into the air.

Two men with ski masks barged in, "Nobody move, this is a stick up."

One of the men came up to the counter, most likely to demand money. With me and Kara right in front of the counter we got front row seats to the action. The poor suckers in the back were nice and **fuckin' safe**!

Not that a human contraption could ever do any permanent damage to a Shinigami, but the fact that I was being threatened caused damage to my pride.

The man that came up to the counter demanded money from the overly tall cashier while the other man pointed the gun at me and Kara.

'_Such dim-witted robbers they are. Why would they have only one gun when there are clearly two people?'_

'_Who knows, maybe they're robbing this place to get enough money to buy another gun.' _

'_I suppose, but Lady Maximilienne, such idiocracy these men show. And no poise, no posture, no sophistication.'_

'_Only you would worry about that Sebastian.'_

Our conversation was cut short when the man holding the gun pointed it at Kara's head, "Give us all your money girlie."

"B-but I don't have any money." Kara had to snap back to her 'shy and vulnerable' act. The tough act might have given away her secret these heroes go through so much trouble to hide their identities is lost to me.

He moved his gun towards me, "Well you better give us something, or I'm gonna kill this little shrimp."

'_**Shrimp?**__'_

'_Lady Maximilienne, calm down.' _

Just as I was about to do something the door flew open, quite literally. It just completely unhinged and flew away. Me, as well as everyone else that was there, turned to see the Man of Steel himself.

I never did understand why he wore his underwear **over **his pants, but hey, if you can stop the Apocalypse who cares right?

And why does every superpowered hero feel the need to smash through walls. You can't fricken' turn the door knob? Hell this door was even motion sensored!

"Let them go."

"S-S-S-Superman? You were supposed to be out of town!" The man holding up the guy behind the counter took the register and hit him with it.

Superman wasn't even slightly fazed, "I got let off work early."

The other man, I suppose was a bit smarter. From what I heard, Superman couldn't be hurt with bullets. It would be a waste to use them on him.

The man grabbed me and put me in a headlock. It wasn't a very good headlock either; no strength behind it. Honestly these humans get stupider and stupider with each generation. I'll give him credit that it did lift me off the ground, but that wasn't too hard. I was, after all, vertically challenged.

"Don't move or I'll shoot her!" Superman stopped in his tracks seeming to weigh the options. If he used super speed, it might shock the man and cause him to fire anyways. He could move at the speed of light, but the man had his finger about .0001mm from the amount of pressure that he needed to apply for the gun to go off. Guess he wasn't a risk taker.

Heat vision, ice breath, sonic boom, any of those things would give him the same results.

"Don't move, or I'll shoot her." I mocked him. Hell Superman wasn't going to do anything, and I was getting bored. I was not expecting to get robbed when I woke up this morning.

Come on do they really think I could die from a bullet wound? This is a Gigai, not a real body, and you can't directly hurt a soul with man-made machinery. Partake no one here but me knows that but still, I found it slightly offending.

"Watch it **kid**!"

"Watch it kid."

"Shut up you **little shrimp**!"

Kara's eyes went a little wide, "Uh-oh."

Superman looked at Kara, "What uh-oh?"

Now I was mad, no, I was beyond mad. No one calls me little. No one calls me a shrimp. To call me a little shrimp is asking for a death wish.

"I. am. not. **little**!" I tilted my head forward to get some momentum and I harshly brought it back to hit his face. I only used just enough force to knock him out and break a few teeth, and maybe his chin, and his nose too.

I huffed a little and looked at the remaining guy, "**You want some too**!"

His eyes bulged a bit, "No, you're tall really **really **tall!"

I crossed my arms, "Thought so." I heard some people clapping, seriously if I was clapped for every time I hit a guy, then I'd go death from the sound.

I looked at Kara and pointed at Superman, "Does he know?" It's a stupid question, but with heroes you never know who knows whose identity.

She nodded her head. She then turned to Superman, "Could you take the both of us home?"

He picked up the gun and squashed it in his hands, and then he looked down at us a bit confused, mostly at Kara. I'm guessing it was because he knew that she didn't need on, but he saw me and thought against saying anything other than, "Sure, the police are on their way."

He picked up Kara bridal style while I got on his back like a piggy back ride.

He asked me, and I guess to keep up the act that Kara wasn't Superman, he asked Kara too, where we lived.

"Kara invited me to come over and play, so just drop me off at her house okay?" I smiled at him; a little lie never hurt anyone. Superman raised his eyebrow slightly. I'm sure that Kara didn't want me "out of her sight" at that moment either; it would be smart to be cautious around those who know your secret identity.

Once we were in the air Kara started to talk to Superman, "Sorry Clark, I was going to do something but I didn't have a chance to change into Supergirl. I mean earlier I was being chased and then…"

Superman's eyes widened a bit, "**Kara**!" He motioned his head in my direction.

"Its fine, she knows." He looked back at me and I waved a bit.

"You should really look where you're flying Mr. Kent. I don't want to die just yet I'm still quite young." Oh the ironies in that statement.

He looked back at Kara, "How and why does she know?"

To save Kara a possible lecture and further embarrassment I spoke up, "I tripped her with my foot and her wig fell off. I'd be blind not to see that it was Kara at that point. You'd have to be blind to not notice Kara because of a pair of glasses."

"**Kara**." Oh I knew that voice. Sebastian uses that tone with me when I did something he didn't like.

I smiled widely at him, "Don't worry Mr. Kent, I'll keep your secret after all Kara and I are friends right?"

I decided to put on the "I'm an innocent child so everything I saw is not only cute but true" act.

I got an approving nod from Kara, "Now that I know your secret, will you be my friend too Mr. Kent? My name's Max and I'm a girl!" I snickered a bit towards Kara's direction. Before the hold up we were chatting a bit and I found out that she thought I was a boy. I knew that I shouldn't have cut my own hair. Kara just stuck her tongue playfully out at me.

Superman let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "Yeah, sure. But call me Clark, or Superman when I'm 'working'. Mr. Kent is my Pa." The childish act works every time. There were some perks to being vertically challenged, but I had to make sure not to overdo it.

"As for you Kara…" We were high enough in the sky and it seemed that it we were in a pretty remote area. And what do you know? Superman dropped Kara.

"Oh there she goes." I said watching her fall. It actually was rather amusing to hear her scream. A few seconds later she flew back up in her Supergirl outfit. It's amazing how fast one can change their clothes in mid-air even if they have superspeed.

"**Clark**!" Superman just laughed.

"Now did Kara really invite you over?"

I smiled nervously, "Would you be mad if I said she didn't? I don't feel comfortable telling you where I live."

Kara flew up next to Superman, "Can she come Clark? I mean she can meet Ma and Pa. You know how they love children and she already knows. Please Clark? She's the only person besides probably Barbara, that's my non-powered friend and knows both of my identities. I don't have many girlfriends. And she's not a vigilante too! So we can have non-villain-y conversations! Please, please, please!" Oh how wrong she was. I had power, just not the type they're familiar with.

"Yeah please Clark?" I gripped his neck a bit tighter and hugged him. This sort of act usually worked on people who had too kind of hearts, and it never fails, not even now.

"Sure," he smiled, "it'd be nice to have Non-hero company for a change."

Kara threw up her arms, "Woo Hoo! Finally I have a normal, not vigilante, super powered, meta human over!"

"Woo Hoo! I finally have friends!" I threw up my arms too, faking that I didn't realize that the only things that were keeping on held onto Superman.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Superman quickly flew down as fast as he could and caught me.

"Thanks Clark." I hugged him around his neck for real this time. Heights don't bother me because Shinigami can just manipulate their spiritual energy to keep them suspended in the air. It was slightly terrifying, but I had to play the innocent card.

'_Mi'Lady was there any particular reason why you did that?'_

'_I heard that people get closer when their lives are saved by another and vice versa.'_

'_That might have been a little far. Technically you already saved Ms. Kent's life.'_

'_Can't blame a girl for trying. Besides, that was a great "test" of Superman's speed and reaction time. Not very bad, but not very good either. His speed is impeccable, his reaction time could use a bit of work.'_

"You have to be careful. I'll hold you in my arms so that doesn't happen again. Are you alright?"

At that very moment Kara appeared and asked the same question.

"I'm fine, thanks." I smiled at them and Superman and Kara both ruffled my hair.

'_Awww so cute. They're treating you're half their age when in reality your probably 20 times older than the older of the two.'_

'_Shut up, if it will get me good relations with them, then it's worth it. I still wonder why they don't question how a child beat up those people.'_

'_I thought you were so confident in your abilities Lady Maximilienne. Now you want people to question your strength? Make up your mind.'_

'_It's not that, but I find it somewhat suspicious. Call me paranoid or not, but look at the facts. I was at the very least a head shorter than the three guys that chased Kara and two heads shorter than the robbers. I'm not complaining that they're not asking, but I find it suspicious that they don't.'_

'_I suppose you are right, but perhaps they think you may be one of those meta-humans that we've been hearing so much about on the news..'_

'_Impossible Sebastian, Kara just finished saying how 'normal' I was.'_

'_It probably just slipped their mind. Oh I know what it was.'_

'_What?'_

'_They might have just believed that you were angry and that triggered your adrenaline rush.'_

'_It's a possibility, but I don't want to rule anything out.'_

'_Why does it matter to you so much Lady Maximilienne?'_

I yawned and closed my eyes leaning further into Clark to hide my face like I was tired. I didn't want him to see my expressions of caution while I'm talking to Sebastian. It might cause him to become worried, or worse, suspicious.

'_I'm going to have to think of an excuse when they do ask.'_

'_You mean if they ask.'_

'_No, I mean when, I can tell when someone wants to know something. I could just say adrenaline rush, but the thing is, will they believe it.'_

'_Just be glad they're not that Batman fellow that we've been hearing so much about. Or that Question fellow either.'_

'_I suppose…'_ I dropped the conversation. It wasn't that I believed the Supers to be suspicious themselves, but everyone knows that when something happens people ask questions. When something big happens and no on asks anything, that's when the trouble arises. If I'd known that they were people who I wanted help from, I wouldn't have over done it with the fighting. At least I didn't know at first with Kara, I guess I don't have much of an excuse with Clark. Though you can't blame me, I have a vertically challenged temper. Besides, it would have been harder to explain why the bullet didn't kill me if the robber did shoot me.

I snapped out of my inner conversation when Superman said, "It'll be a while before we get to Ma and Pa's. It's a little way off and they're not expecting me for a few hours yet."

"Oh I know, let's play 20 questions!" I looked over to Kara who was practically bouncing in the air.

I tilted my head, "What's that?"

"We ask you a question and then you get to ask us both a question. That way we get to know each other better."

I nodded my head and smiled, perfect, "Okay! But I get to ask each of you a question not just the both of you."

Superman and Kara nodded, "Okay you first."

"Okay, hmmm what should I ask?" I pretended to scratch my chin. I had to keep up this childish act if I was to accomplish anything with these two, but I had to show a bit of maturity if I was going to get any respect. I saw in one of the movies Sebastian recommended to me that "adults" scratched their chins often when they were thinking.

We asked many questions back and forth. I learned that Superman didn't live with their Ma and Pa, but rather he lived in Metropolis. It was just a coincidence that he was visiting them today because he wanted a break after doing the renovations for the Watchtower and I found that his Krytonian name was Kal-El. Superman was a part of the original Justice League as their leader and still is, which would make getting him on my side that much more crucial to getting the others on my side; him and Batman of course, from what I can tell, the two of them are the centerpieces of the puzzle. It appears that the Justice League was recruiting new people into the League from all over the world; other superheroes and vigilantes fighting for the 'greater good'. No doubt the villains are thinking the same thing but with a different purpose.

I found out that Kara wasn't from Krypton like Superman and they weren't really cousins. She was from a sister planet called Argon and her real name is Kara In-Ze. She was friends with Batgirl from Gotham, but she wouldn't tell me who she really was, which I respected. She also told me that Superman was friends with Batman, sort of-ish.

A key component that I learned from them was that the both of them didn't speak Japanese and neither did their Ma or Pa. But I found out that this Batman fellow did, but the others of his 'Bat-family' did not. Though this information may have seemed innocent and unimportant, it was indeed the most important piece of information that I did get.

It wasn't that I wanted to talk behind their backs, but I need to know what I could and couldn't say around them. There were some things that were better left unsaid to the living about the dead to keep both their physical as well as their mental well-beings safe.

I told them very little about myself. I merely told them that I didn't have a place to stay in Metropolis, my ragged clothing was from constant wear and tear as they were my only pair, and that I had no money. I told them that I didn't remember who my parents were and that I was a Japanese kid that was at least 15 years old. When I told them my age they were thoroughly surprised; you should have seen their faces. I quickly dropped the kid act then and there.

None of that was a lie.

I didn't have a place to stay in Metropolis, but if I went to Karakura Town I did have places to stay, but they didn't know that.

I did have only one pair of clothing, as a Gigai only needs one pair of clothing if you take care of them properly. Plus I liked the extra elbow room that they provided me; it was very comfortable.

I didn't have any money, at least on me. Urahara technically had all my money which was technically his.

I didn't remember who my parents are, most-all shinigami don't.

And I am at least 15 years old. They just don't know I'm well over 20 times that age. They assumed that because I am homeless that I was abandoned as a child, therefore I don't remember the day I was born (which was really the day I died, oh the irony). Technically, I don't.

We only got to about 6 or 7 questions before my cell phone rang. "Wait, I thought you said you didn't have any money. How'd you get a cell phone?" Kara asked.

"My friend bought it for me to keep in contact with him in Japan. He pays for the bills and only calls when it's very important. It runs on solar energy so I never have to charge it. Please excuse me for a second." Though I said that, it wasn't as if I could go to a separate room in the sky to take my call. I might have lied when I said that the phone ran on solar energy; it ran on spiritual energy, but whose counting the lies that I'm telling?

This was too soon for Urahara to be calling me; he called me about a month ago. That could only mean one thing.

I opened my cell and switched to Japanese and I tried to use a happy tone so that I didn't throw off the Kents, _**"Moshi Moshi."**_

"_**Maxi-chan, he's finally defected."**_

"_**Took the guy long enough."**_

"_**Why are you so happy about it?"**_

"_**I'm not, I'm not exactly alone in company right now. Don't worry about it just keep talking." **_

"_**Well, anyways, he took the Hogyoku and he plans on overthrowing the Spirit King."**_

"_**I thought we established this Urahara, 100 years ago."**_

"_**Yes, but I figured you'd want a refresher."**_

" _**Did Gin and Tousen go too?"**_

"_**Yes, now listen closely. It appears that the war is set for the winter, which gives us 3 months to prepare everything."**_

"_**I'll tell you this now Urahara, when the war goes on, I can't help you. I'm going to use this chance to check out what's going on with the Soul Societies of the other nations. It's too risky while we don't know what he does in Hueco Mundo or if he's there most of his time, so our only chance will be when he's at war with all the strongest soldiers in his army. If Aizen really did do something to the people of the other Soul Societies, then checking up on them now wouldn't be beneficial to anyone. If he did something to the other heavens, then this is bigger than just overthrowing the Spirit King and trying to transcend into a God status, no pun intended on the God of the United States of course."**_

"_**I understand, when we mobilize I'll give you the go-ahead. Until then stay safe."**_

"_**I'll try. Well, I hope to see you after three months."**_

"_**Yes Maxi-chan, and I hope the conditions will be reasonably good. I wouldn't want the first time we see one another in about 90 years to be because it's at the other's funeral."**_

"_**I miss you too Urahara-san. Tell everyone, the Vizards included, that I said hi."**_

"_**I will, be careful and stay safe."**_

"_**I will, I will. I'll call you if I get any leads on this investigation."**_

"_**That's what you said 75 years ago."**_

"_**That means I haven't gotten any leads. They just keep disappearing left and right. It's like they're disappearing into thin air." **_I looked ahead to see that there was a small house on a farm coming up.

"_**I have to go soon Urahara, we're reaching my destination."**_

"_**Where are you exactly?"**_

I looked around, _**"In the middle of nowhere on a farm."**_

"_**What are you doing there?"**_

"_**I'm trying to butter up some of the world's greatest **__alive__** fighters."**_

"_**You're insane you mean the Ju…"**_

"_**Yes them, don't say their name. I'm with two of them that have super hearing. And their names don't exactly translate well into Japanese when you say it using Katakana. They might not understand Japanese, but they're smart enough to figure it out."**_

"_**But why them? Do you really think its going to be so serious that the living will be involved?"**_

"_**Urahara, it already is. From what I've gathered, the living world is the only neutral ground where any type of fighting can occur. I was planning on getting the help of the living through the Amazonian women and ease my way onto neighboring beings that possessed similar traits, but the Justice League will be a nice alternative."**_

"_**What do you hope to accomplish?"**_

"_**I need to gain their trust and then ease the information onto them. I doubt just asking them will work, especially with recent betrayal from one of their teammates."**_

With that we said our goodbyes and good lucks. These next three months will be torture on the mind and soul (no pun intended).

"So what was all that about?" Kara looked at me as well as Superman.

"Just catching up, I haven't talked to him in so long. I miss him."

"Why don't you go visit him? I'm sure he'd like that."

I looked at Superman, "I guess, but now's not the time to do that." Sensing my serious tone, the both of them dropped the subject.

Last month, Urahara had told me all about Kurosaki Ichigo, son of Kurosaki Isshin, a good friend of mine who I also haven't seen in years. I was told that Ichigo was going to be our trump card.

I was told everything last month about what happened with Kuchiki Rukia and Kurosaki Ichigo, the humans who received spiritual abilities: Inoue Orihime and Yasutora Sado. I was told about Yoruichi's return after about a 10 year long vacation doing God knows what, and just about everything else that had happened up until that point.

I could hear the undertone in Urahara's voice when he told me last month that, "If we don't **fully** succeed in defeating Aizen when he defects and wages war, you're going to have to train Ichigo."

Fully succeed could mean a number of things. Maybe the Hogyoku gets missing and Aizen hid it somewhere after he was defeated. Maybe Aizen wins the war and all Hell breaks loose (which I really hope doesn't happen as I've been to Hell before. It's not the happiest place on Earth). Maybe Aizen doesn't show up as intended. Who knows? I know one thing, we will **not** fully succeed. I **will** have to train Ichigo…crap.

In a fight against Aizen, there will be no better teacher.

This war, successful or not, will end up involving the living world. I just have this gut feeling that people who shouldn't be involved will become involved—the young, the old, the innocent, the guilty, the living, and the dead.

Superman set me on the floor as he went up to the door and knocked on it with Kara following close behind.

I looked at the both of them smiling happily as, who I'm guessing is, their Ma and Pa opened the door and greeted them.

I smiled when they ruffled my hair and called me adorable and said that the just loved me.

I laughed at their shocked faces when they I told them that I was at least 15.

I cried inside when I knew that fate was going to be cruel to them and break their ignorance to the world of the dead.

I felt determined to recruit their help along with the rest of the Justice League, now more than just 7, to help them protect both our world and theirs.

* * *

I'm sorry if it wasn't very good. This story has been beta-read, well mostly by myself at this point.

Please review, I know it only takes about a minute or less but it ensures that I will continue on updating regularly. The reviews are counted as a whole, not just chapter by chapter. So if I get a review from Chapter 1 it will still motivate me to write even if I'm already on Chapter 5.


	2. Noble Janitor Beta

_I want to thank everyone who has read part one and who is continuing to read this series. Please do review and/or take the poll so I get so form of feedback. It does actually make me update more frequently. Thank you very much._

_I will be referring to Shinigami attire, weaponry, titles, and such in their Japanese names to prevent some confusion and to make it easier to understand. _

"_**This is Japanese"**_

"_Thoughts"_

"English Speech"

"**Flashback (unless it's used to emphasize something)"**

_Thank you again for all those who are reading I really do appreciate it. The more feedback I get, the more motivated I am to continue._

* * *

The truth is a concept I've never understood, and I don't think I could ever understand it.

Telling only lies is hazardous on many levels, so why do it?

Telling only part of the truth is lying, so it too is hazardous on many levels.

Telling only the truth is detrimental, so where does that leave you?

The truth is usually seen as a virtue, but is it really as good as people make it out to be?

Sometimes it is better not to know the truth; it is better to be ignorant.

Ignorance is bliss, but some would argue that knowledge is power. If knowledge is power, then it truly is best that the truth is hidden from most people.

Take the government for example. If the people knew every threat, every terrorist attack, every small issue that ever passed through the doors of a country's executive system, there would be widespread panic and chaos.

This is an example of a white lie: a lie to keep the truth from people for their own benefits.

Staying at the Kent house made me wonder: How long would I have to keep lying to their faces? How long would it take before they figured me out? How long would it take for the Winter War to blow over before I could live a normal life?

But everyone involved in the war knew; this would never blow over and I was sure this war was going to last for all of eternity unless Aizen was killed, which was another way of saying that this war was going to last for all of eternity. My lying to the Kents would last until the end of their days.

But it had to be like this, humans weren't supposed to know about the afterlife for their own benefits. It makes me sad to think I will have to leave them someday; the day they notice that I haven't aged a day will be the day I disappear from their lives.

I know I'm protecting them through my lies, but then…why do I feel so bad about it?

* * *

xX- Smallville | 6:35 AM –Xx

"Sensei! Sensei!" A younger version of me opened my eyes sleepily as I looked at some kids, two young boys and girl, standing above me. These children were all childhood friends of one another and my students, despite the fact that they towered over me.

"What is it?"

"Sensei! You told us you had a surprise for us!" The young dark-skinned, gold eyed, purple haired girl yelled at me and attempted to pull me up by the arm. She was 5'0", way taller than my 4'5" stature, and she held herself with a subtle pride. This young girl was Shihoin Yoruichi, princess of the Tenshiheisōban. Yoruichi is powerful, fast, and skilled, but there was a time when she wasn't as great as she is now.

It was about 100 years ago when she had been kidnapped by a rivaling noble family that disapproved of a female heir; there had never been a woman that held the title as the head of the Shihoin family. The Shihoin family was one of the four noble families of the Soul Society and a Shinigami of the 11th Squad had no business being associated with her, but here I was. There's not a day that goes by haven't blessed the gods that I found her.

* * *

I was only a 9th seat of the Gotei 13's 11th Squad at the time, so I was often sent on patrol duty. It appeared the rivaling noble family, the Tahoka, kidnapped Yoruichi and dumped her in the 80th district, Zaraki. Members of the 11th district were the only people to ever patrol in districts 70 and above because we were considered "as savage as the people who lived there".

I stumbled upon her as she was about to get attacked by a shady group of men. I don't know if it was my sense of morality or if it was the bread I ate that morning, but seeing the little girl in trouble made something snap in me.

Walking up behind the men, I stabbed each one in the neck ending their lives as quickly as I could. Looking down at the bodies I felt no remorse; souls out here rarely had anyone or anything to live for.

When I first met Yoruichi she was smaller than I was, and that was saying something.

She had short boy-cut purple hair, which she kept for about 100 or so years after the day I met her, the same golden cat-like eyes, and she stood about 3 feet tall. She wore a kimono of sorts, and that should have been the first thing to tip me off that she was a noble; she was wearing a kimono in the most rundown, dirty place in all of Soul Society.

"You okay?" I looked down at her as she slowly lowered the hands that were in front of her face and slowly nodded at me.

"Who are you?"

"Shi-Shihoin Yo-Yoruichi."

I thought back and mumbled to myself, "Shihoin? Now why name does that sound familiar?"

"I-I'm the heir t-to the Shi-Shihoin family."

"Heir?" I scoffed a bit, "What the hell is a stuck up noble doing here?"

"I am not a stuck up noble!" She stood up and hissed. She reminded me of a cat.

"Whatever," I scratched the back of my head, "Don't expect me to save you again, you got that? If you nobles are stupid enough to come here on your own without protection, then it's on you if you get killed."

"I didn't come here on my own; I was kidnapped! Besides, you're a Shinigami, aren't you suppose to protect me? You know, I am the heir to the Shihoin family. I am going to be head some day, you should respect me."

"Kid, I'm not going to respect you just because you want me to. You want it? Earn it." I began to walk away. Don't get me wrong, I liked kids well enough, but I hated brats. If she was going to be a bitch, then forget her.

I walked for about a mile or so patrolling the area for trouble and when I found it I slaughtered the people causing it. Usually it was some people who were getting attacked that needed help or something, but that wasn't why I killed their assailants. I killed them because I needed an excuse to kill. In the "higher" districts, no one bat an eye at you if you killed anyone. Of course being a Shinigami meant that I had to abide by the rules of the Gotei 13, hence why I needed the excuse.

People backed off seeing my Shihakushō—knowing full well that I was a Shinigami. Shinigami weren't welcome in districts higher than 50 because of our constant 'meddling'. I'll admit, when I was growing up here, I didn't like the Shinigami either, but whether I liked them or not, becoming one was the only way to ensure my survival.

The entire time I could hear scuffles of tiny feet following me. The kid didn't even try to mask her reiatsu—assuming she knew how. After about another hour or so, I couldn't take it anymore. I was planning on just running out of the district, but I had a job to do whether I wanted to or not. I wasn't going to end up like my Captain; a lazy good for nothing that never completed any of his work, "Why do you keep following me kid?"

"I'm not following you!" She jumped out of her hiding place behind the barrel.

"Right. Look what do you want?"

"I need you to lead me back home."

"No thanks. I'm not a babysitter."

She looked like she was about to say something to retaliate until a rather old man, who looked like he just wanted to cross the roadway, ran off after he saw me—shaking in fear, "You're respected by these people. They clear the road for you."

"Kid, I'm a Shinigami. They don't back off because they respect me. They back off because they fear me; they loathe me with every fiber of their being."

I saw her confused face, "Then why did you protect some of them?"

"If you think it's because I'm noble and moral, you can forget about it. I just needed a reason to kill them so that the Old Man wouldn't start lecturing me again about how wrong it was to kill random people."

Yamamoto Genryusai was a good friend of mine, sort of. I met him a while back when I grew up here. It was thanks to him that I attended the Academy to become a Shinigami. He was something of a grandfather to me, and though he was never particularly kind, I knew that he cared.

"Then why did you help me? Was it for the same reason?"

"More or less. Look what do you want?"

"If I'm a Shinigami, will people respect me too?"

"I thought I just got through telling you that these people don't respect me."

She looked up at me with those cat eyes, "But I respect you."

"What the…Why?"

"You can do what you want. You don't worry about anyone."

"I just said that I didn't want the Old Man to…"

"You have enough power to do what you want. Please teach me! If I'm strong, then my family won't mind having me for an heir!"

"You're out of your mind kid. I don't train people." I turned around to look at her in the eyes. She was a bizarre kid; an enigma of sorts.

This kid made no sense; she says she wants to be a Shinigami so people respect her, but I just got through telling her that people don't respect Shinigami (or at least me). She says she thinks that I can do whatever I want, but I just got through telling her that I answer to a higher authority. Above all, she tells me that she respects me. Either this kid bumped her head sometime along her life, or she really needed to get out to see other people.

There were many other people that were stronger, had more authority, and much more respect than I had. The only thing that I could think of was that all the people she met that met the criteria didn't meet another hidden agenda of hers that I seemed to have met, "You're a noble, shouldn't you be getting your training from Captains or something? I'm only a 9th seat; I can't do much of anything." Normally Squad 11 members were anything but humble, but I only sounded humble because I didn't want to train the brat.

"No, I want you to train me…please."

Why this child was so desperate I didn't know, nor did I care. I was a Squad 11 member not a teacher, if you're a noble that wants to be trained by a Shinigami, go to Squad 6. There are a bunch of brown-nosers there that would love for the chance to train a noble.

Just as I was about to walk away she told me, "They all praise me even when I'm not doing good. They only teach me how to run, but I want to learn how to fight. You're the only person that treats me like I'm…normal."

Normal? What does everyone worship the ground she walks on or something?

I thought about it for a split second, "No way kid. You want to find a ruthless person to train you that won't care for your well-being, go talk to my Captain. You'll have oodles of fun."

I heard a quick _whish_ sound and I opened my eyes to see the kid in front of me. There was only one thing that I knew of that it could be, Shunpo. I stepped back, stunned, but only slightly.

'_Lady Maximilienne, this child shows much promise.' _I looked down slightly at my hip to see Sebastian. This was a time where it wasn't necessary for Sebastian to be in constant release form. Sebastian was nestled horizontally on my back where my hip and stomach met; not too much unlike how Yoruichi eventually chose to wear it as well as her future protégée Soi Fong. The sheath and hilt were both a brown color while the guard was a brown circle that resembled a sundial.

'_Interesting. Just imagine how much fun we could have when she becomes stronger.'_ I won't lie, not even now, that in my younger years I was not unlike most members of Squad 11; all I cared about was fighting to see who could and would become the strongest. Bloodshed and strength were the only things that were on my mind.

I looked at her again as she pleaded once more, "Please. No one else will train me. None of them approve of me becoming the head of the Shihoin family because I'm a girl. Please. I've only been taught how to run. I want to learn how to fight!"

'_God its like the only thing this kid knows how to say is, "I've been taught how to run. I want to learn how to fight."'_

'_But Lady Maximilienne, just think of how strong this child will become. It took you years to learn Shunpo, probably longer than this kid is old.'_

'_Screw you Sebastian, comparing me to her isn't making me want to teach her any more than before.'_

'_I thought you were all about relations Mi'Lady.'_

'_So? What're you getting at?'_

Sebastian sighed slightly before continuing, _'Lady Maximilienne, did you forget that this child is the next heir to the Shihoin family? It doesn't get too much higher in Soul Society than the Noble Families. Though I must say that I disapprove of you using someone like this, I do agree that the child will be a great asset to us in the future.'_

I pondered the thought in my head, _'Alright, but just so we're clear, I'm not using her. Just think of her as…emergency provisions in case something ever went wrong.' _

I smiled, almost evilly really, "How about this kid," I pulled off a ribbon that held her short hair up, "if you can get this back, I'll become your teacher."

She smiled like I just gave her a 20 pound bag of candy and nodded furiously, but she should know that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park; just because she was a kid didn't mean I was going to go easy on her.

Her face got serious, and I sped off using Shunpo.

She must have chased me for hours because by the time she actually caught me we were in the 18th district, and the sun was already setting. To be able to get from the 80th district to the 18th district in such a short amount of time was amazing in and of itself. It wasn't so hard for me because I was used to the long journeys due to being my patrol duties, but this child wasn't a Shinigami. I had to admit, despite my pride, her Hohō skills were amazing.

I felt slightly irked though, there were many times where she almost caught me, and she only failed because she wasn't strong enough to rip the ribbon from my hands. I was decent in my Shunpo, not the best, but to be beaten by a non-Shinigami child in speed scarred my pride.

It wasn't until we had reached the 18th district that I got bored from the game. It wasn't that I wanted to teach her, but Sebastian was right. It would be beneficial towards me in the future to have good relationships with a Noble Family.

I loosened my grip on the ribbon as she caught up to me and grabbed it, "Yay! I did it. Now you have to train me!"

She tied up her hair in the ribbon shortly after grabbing it from me. I'm not even sure how she tied up her hair; it was already extremely short, "Not bad kid."

"My name's not kid; it's Shihoin Yoruichi." She pouted.

I smirked a bit; this child was going to be interesting. She was very, very fast, but she wasn't very strong, as I found out when she tried to wrestle me for the ribbon. Since I'm going to be her teacher, however, that can be changed relatively quickly. Sebastian was a non-combatant zanpaktou, so I had to compensate for it by becoming skilled in hand-to-hand combat. "I'm Zaraki Maximilienne: Ninth seat of Squad 11, but you, you'll call me Sensei is that understood?"

She nodded her head and had a stern face. I smiled, I could get used to this kid; she wasn't so bad when she lost the bitchy attitude.

I smiled goofily and ruffled her hair, "Calm down Yo-chan. You nobles really have to learn to loosen up."

She smiled back at me copying my smile.

That was the day that Yoruichi's attitude changed from a bratty stuck up noble child to a disciplined fun-loving Shinigami that was worthy to be head of the Shihoin family.

* * *

"Maxi-chan, you're so tiny; we should just carry you to our surprise. Even with Shunpo, you'll take to long with those short legs of yours…Ow!"

"Urahara-san, show some respect!"

"Ouch, that hurt Tessai-san, and come on call me Kisuke. We've known each other for years."

Urahara Kisuke and Tsukabishi Tessai. Till this day, Urahara has never called me Sensei; therefore I refused to call him Kisuke to spite him. The habit stuck even after we stopped being student and teacher.

I met them shortly after Yoruichi. Apparently the two of them went out to look for Yoruichi after they found out she was kidnapped, and they both only got as far as the 18th district when we met up with them. They were shorter then too. Kisuke was 4' so he wasn't too much shorter than I was, but Tessai was almost 5', which was tall by my standards.

Upon hearing how I saved Yoruichi, and how I was now her teacher, the two of them demanded that I teach them too. Well Kisuke demanded, a bit nervously I'll admit, and Tessai requested only because Kisuke demanded.

I definitely didn't want to teach them, but Yoruichi vouched for the two of them because they were both her best friends. I had the two of them demonstrate their strength and to that they failed…terribly. Sword fighting was an obvious lack, because they had yet to achieve their zanpaktous. Their hand-to-hand combat needed much work as well.

The reason why I taught Kisuke and Tessai wasn't because they were strong like me or fast like Yoruichi, no.

I taught Kisuke because I found him to be smart, overly smart to a point where in the wrong hands it could be detrimental to the general public. Kisuke was an inventor and a very good one at that. He had all these innovated ideas, but his lack of proper access to the proper equipment was a great handicap on his part. I decided to train him so that he could one day become a Captain of the Gotei 13 and achieve his dreams of building…well something. At the time I didn't know that he was speaking of the Hōgyoku, but I supported him all the way.

I taught Tessai because I found out his Kidō skills were overly exceptional. Being a Squad 11 member, I didn't like people who used Kidō, but Tessai was so good at it that I couldn't help but marvel at his skills. His dream was to become the Captain of the Kidō Corps, but he needed to balance out his Kidō skills with some close range skills like sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat.

Half way through the dream I realized that I was dreaming. This wasn't happening now, no, this was a memory. I remembered this day very well. This was the day that brought the three of them closer to their dreams.

At this time I was already the Lieutenant of Squad 11, and I had much more authority now than I ever did. About 50 years had passed since I first met Yoruichi, Kisuke, and Tessai, and they all grew both physically and mentally; the three of them looked only slightly younger than they did 150 years after, during the Hollowfication incident.

This was the day that I went to Shihoin Mansion to go speak with their guardians; Kisuke and Tessai, despite not being Shihoins, both grew up in this mansion together with Yoruichi. This was the day that I had to convince their caretakers to allow Yoruichi, Kisuke, and Tessai to join the Shinigami Academy. As I was let in, followed by my students, through the large doors of the mansion, I heard a loud beeping noise that woke me from my slumber.

* * *

I slowly opened my eyes to see that it was Kara's alarm clock. I was somewhat glad that Kara's alarm clock had woken me up before my dream had turned into a nightmare. I was always happy to dream about my three former students and friends, but the day I had to convince their caretakers to allow them to attend the Shinigami Academy was almost as bad as the day of the Hollowfication of the Vizards.

Why I was having this dream, I didn't understand. I understand that it was probably one of the most important events of my long life, but to specifically dream about that day didn't sit very well with me. Things happened that day that I'd rather forget about, despite all the good that came out of it.

The beeping continued and I looked over to Kara. I knew that with her super hearing there was no way she couldn't hear that infernal racket, "Kara, Kara wake up and turn off your alarm clock."

I got up and out of my sleeping bag and shook her, "Hmmm? Alright, alright I'm up."

Kara got up to get ready for school. Over the past month that I've been living here, there was a silent rule that said that when Kara got up, so did I.

I was a bit out of it, partly because I was tired and partly because I was still thinking about my dream. The parts I dreamt of were like any ordinary dream that I've had before. If Kara's alarm hadn't woken me, however, that dream would have changed into one of my lesser liked memories.

Kara and I shared the same room mostly because there weren't many rooms in the Kent House. It didn't feel right for me to take Clark's room, because, though he only came on weekends and holidays, I'd be taking what was rightly fully his in the first place. It also made more sense because Kara and I were both females, or at least it made sense to everyone else in the family.

Being a member of the 11th Squad for so long changed my attitude on unisex activities. I was the only female member of the 11th Squad since I started to when I was exiled, so I was used to changing in a room filled with men, taking a shower in a room filled with men, eating in a room filled with men, you get the idea.

Though most of Squad members didn't try anything, after all who would want to 'put the moves' on an undeveloped girl that looked more like a child than anything, there were a few "pedophiles" in my Squad. Technically I was older than they were, but some of them "came on to me" because I looked like I was about 11 or so. They were usually the newer recruits and I quickly put them in their place before too long.

We brushed our teeth, I changed into one of the millions of shortalls and T-shirts that Ma bought for me—I picked a green shirt today with a cute kitty on the front to match with the blue shortalls—and I hooked Sebastian's clip on the belt hole of the shortall and tucked him into my pocket. Ma told me that a "lady" such as me shouldn't be wearing such tattered clothing.

I almost laughed at how much she sounded like Sebastian at that one moment. I kept my tattered clothes though because they held sentimental importance to me, as it was Urahara who gave them to me along with the Gigai, but I accepted Ma's request because I liked the shortall/T-Shirt style.

I passed Kara her wig and glasses as we headed down for breakfast.

After about a month of living with the Kents, I opted to calling Mr. and Mrs. Kent, Pa and Ma respectably; they kept insisting on it because I was going to be living with them. Ma treated me like her child; she bought me clothes, fixed my choppy hair, tuck me into bed, the works.

I told her many times that I at least 15 and that I could take care of the miscellaneous things myself, but she continued to treat me like a child because of my appearance. It didn't particularly bother me. I figured that she was old and with Kara and Clark, though she never really raised Kara, as old as they were, she couldn't "act like a doting parent" anymore.

I let Ma have her fun. This was because in about 2 more months, I might be gone, and I guess I felt sort of bad for her and Pa; they would be lonely in the house again.

Now the word gone could mean a number of things. It might mean that I have to leave because duty calls and I'll never come back because the mission takes so long that it out lives their lifetimes. I might get caught sometime during my investigation during the time of the Winter War and be held hostage so long that it out lives their lifetimes. Or I might die in battle.

Either way, I was 99.99% sure that in the next 2 months, I'd be out of their lives. It was pretty sad too; I rather liked the Kent family.

Pa, now he was one of my favorite people. He taught me a lot of different human activities like milking a cow, riding the tractor, and he even taught me how to drive a car. Thank the gods that Smallville was pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

I got the impression that Pa liked me too; he said that it was nice to have help and company around the farm again, since Kara was always out at school or her job and Clark was only home on the weekends until he got called on duty again.

Kara and Clark were actually home even less now, from what Ma and Pa tell me, than they ever were.

Clark was still doing some minor adjustments with the Watchtower before the day of the initiation for all the new members, which is scheduled to be tomorrow evening on a Sunday so that Kara could attend without suspicion as well as a few other heroes who had jobs that they couldn't afford to miss as well as those who attended church on Sunday mornings.

Kara was out patrolling because Superman was going to be out of town more frequently; Clark specifically chose dinner time to make sure that Kara was at least somewhat available to cover Metropolis in his absence because she had school from 7 AM – 3 PM.

With all the activities that Clark and Kara had, the house, according to Ma and Pa, was awfully quiet most of the time before I came around.

I guess with my arrival, Ma and Pa decided that they now had another child whom they could dote on for as long as they wanted to.

I sat down on the table next to Kara as Ma set down two plates of waffles. One plate was drenched in syrup while the other one had mild amounts of syrup. My breakfast was the former. I adored anything that was overly sweet, overly spicy, overly sour, overly anything except for salty. My motto on food, except for salty foods, was that if you want a flavor, pick one. I didn't like it when food was sweet **and** sour. If it was sweet it was sweet. If it was sour it was sour.

Ma gave us both utensils and Kara looked up to ask, "Hey Ma, where's Pa?"

"He's out on the field working. He'll be back in a little bit to eat. Now hurry up Kara, or you'll be late for school."

I smiled evilly at Kara, "Yeah Kara, hurry."

It was funny because the supposed "nerdy" girl got Saturday school for a month because it was her that supposedly caused the violent encounter with the 3 fat boys about a month ago. Today was to be the last Saturday school, but I was going to milk this for all it was worth.

"Oh shut up Max. Ma I don't get why Max doesn't have to go to school at all. I mean I know she looks like a kid, but she's at least 15 right? Doesn't that count for something?"

"Unlike some people Kara, I've already finished school. I thought I told you already." Technically speaking, I did finish school. I graduated from the Shinigami Academy about 400 years ago, but she didn't need to know how long ago it was.

"Yeah, but that's still totally not fair. I mean I still have to go to school, but I've finished most of it back at Argon."

"Most of it Kara. In all technicality, you're just finishing up your senior year in high school that you missed at Argon. I actually graduated completely. Think of it this way, you're almost done with school and after that you can play it off like you're going to college. Besides Clark said that you have to keep up with your secret identity, and dropping out of school to become a superhero isn't exactly a subtle way to "disappear" from the public."

Kara pouted and put her chin on her hand.

"Elbows off the table Kara. By the way Max, what was the school that you graduated from called again?"

"It was called the Shinō Academy. I attended the school back when I was in Japan and I graduated in about 7 years. It was a…prestigious school of sorts. You know for the gifted."

I had to convince the Kents a while back that I wasn't a homeless child, but rather I was abandoned as a child and given to Urahara to raise me. Urahara set my birthday to the day that he found me, which was when I was probably around 2 years old. That was why I couldn't remember how old I was since I wasn't abandoned as a baby. It, technically, wasn't lying…too much. But give me a break; I had to tell them something.

"That makes you like a prodigy or something then right? I mean graduating from K-12 in 7 years is pretty amazing."

I looked at Kara and I seriously wanted to laugh. 7 years was a tad bit too long for most people of the Shinō Academy, or the Spiritual Arts Academy. It was originally called the Shinigami Academy back when I attended, but after they started to put graduates in not only the Gotei 13, but also the Kidō Corps and the Onmitsukidō, the name got changed to cover a broader range of groups.

"Well I guess you could call me that."

"Not to sound rude or anything, but if you're so smart, then what were you doing back at that alleyway last month where I found you? I mean I know you told me you got there because you got lost and decided to rest there, but why were you in Metropolis if you had a caretaker in Japan? I mean, couldn't you get a job there or something?"

"Kara! It's none of our business." Ma had this stern look on her face, not too much unlike Yoruichi's face when Urahara did something stupid.

"It's okay Ma," I looked at Kara, "I had actually come to the United States to become somewhat independent from my …caretaker. He does check up on me every night though, so it's not like he forgot about me." This was the best excuse that I could come up with. It was true though that I did want to become somewhat independent, not from Urahara, but from the Soul Society. This, however, wasn't the reason why I came to the United States. As I've previously stated before, I'm here on an investigation, but I couldn't very well tell them that.

Another thing was that Urahara had been calling me every night.

One reason was to keep up the façade that I had a guardian that was alright with me coming to the United States to find a job and to learn to support myself. I told them that in Japanese cultures, it was normal for a child to want to stray away from the family and to find a job to support themselves. It was a stupid excuse and a pathetic lie because it wasn't even remotely true, but I was relieved that the Kents all bought it (not knowing the Japanese culture as much as I was glad they didn't); thank whoever is up there that the Kents weren't in the slightest bit suspicious. Urahara told the Kents that he would be sending money so that they could support me. I couldn't deny it, even though I wanted to, but the Kents did, to which I was grateful for.

Despite the circumstances, I still would have felt guilty had Urahara given me or the Kents any money; it would still feel like I was putting the blame on him. Of course this meant that the Kents were paying for everything for me which, honestly, didn't make me feel any better.

The second reason was to keep me updated on what was happening with the Soul Society and the war with Aizen. Apparently what's happened so far is that Shinji is starting his 'recruit' methods on Ichigo, but they weren't working out as he hoped because Ichigo's not responding in the way Shinji wants.

Another thing I found out was that Isshin somehow regained his Shinigami abilities and he took down the Grand Fisher who turned into something called an Arrancar. These creatures called Arrancar showed in Karakura as of late, and Urahara and Yoruichi fought two of them not to long ago to save Ichigo and his little friends.

The Arrancar reminded me of an opposite version of the Vizards; hollows who had gained Shinigami powers as opposed to Shinigami gaining hollow powers. So far I have yet to see any of them here in Smallville or Metropolis, when I took small visits with Kara and Clark outside of their costumes, to which I was thankful for. All-in-all the progress of the war was what was to be expected; Aizen was beginning the starting off the war with battles.

Everything was going semi-according to plan. At least, that's what it looked like on the surface; you never know who might be spying on them or what Aizen is planning at this very moment that could completely distraught our plans.

"I still can't believe he's alright with you coming to America all on your own. You must have been so frightened." Ma gently touched my face. I wanted to roll my eyes, but I respected and liked her enough not to and just smiled.

"I'm alright Ma, but what I really need to do is look for a job."

"Why?" Kara took a bite out of her waffle, "I mean, Ma and Pa pretty much run a farm, you could work here."

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything that you guys are doing for, but I just don't feel right mooching off of you guys like this."

"It's not mooching sweetie. We enjoy your company isn't that right Jonathan?"

The door was opened as Pa stepped through it, "Yup. It's nice to have company for a change. Clark and Kara are gone so often that we forget that we even have kids."

"Pa." Kara playfully groaned. Ma, Pa, and I laughed a bit.

"I know, but I came to America to get into the real world. I'm not doing a very good job if I live off of someone like I did back in Japan. That completely defeats the purpose."

Pa chuckled a bit, "I guess it does. But what's wrong with having a live in job?"

"Jonathan, if it's what Max wants we should respect that."

Pa nodded once as if affirming something to himself, "Well, I'm sure Clark can help. He is friends with a certain billionaire playboy in Gotham."

"I don't want to impose on him. I mean, it's bad enough that I accidentally let it slip that I wanted one. I just hope that he doesn't think that I don't appreciate everything that he's done." Truth was that it wasn't an accidental slip; I practically sang that I wanted a job to Clark.

I was able to put two and two together long time ago. I didn't understand how anyone couldn't tell that Clark Kent was Superman. I, in the back of my mind, always knew that Clark Kent was Superman. The "first" time I met Superman, I pretended not to know his identity for obvious reasons, but I had seen Clark Kent's face a few times in various areas: the news, the papers, walking down the streets near the Daily Planet. I couldn't believe that no one could see that he was Superman.

In a way I could understand, after all who would suspect Superman to even **have** a secret identity? He flew around mask-less, people thought that he lived in the Fortress of Solitude, and I'll admit that Superman's attitude and Clark Kent's attitude were more polar opposites than black and white.

I've never thought too much about it though. If there was some man that wanted to tread around with his underwear over his tights and go around saving people, who was I, a dead lieutenant in a fake body looking for angels, to complain?

It wasn't until Bruce Wayne came for a business trip in Metropolis about 3 years ago that I was able to piece together who Batman was bit by bit (This wasn't my first time in Metropolis, I visited it about 3 years ago on one of my possible leads that turned out to be a wild goose chase).

Though it was an innocent enough trip, I didn't believe for a second that it was a coincidence that Batman had shown up in Metropolis at the same time; there were no such things as coincidences I've learned.

It wasn't like Batman had never been to Metropolis before and vice versa, but Bruce Wayne himself had never been in Metropolis until that very day, from what I've seen in the media; I watched the media from time to time to see if there are any 'unforeseen attacks' that might be hollows. Of course sometimes the unforeseen attacks are because of the metahumans, but it is still a good idea to be updated.

Now the connection would have been completely untraceable. Bruce Wayne was there to do business with Lex Luthor and Batman was there to hunt down the Joker. I heard on the news that Batman and Superman were working together; people called them the "World's Finest", what were we Shinigami, chopped liver? At the same time there were reports that Bruce Wayne had been hanging around the Daily Planet a little more often than not.

This wouldn't have been a big issue to the public because they believed that he was dating Lois Lane, but it wasn't that that completely led me to the truth.

The final straw was that Batman's spiritual energy—I was able to sense it when I came across him once in Gotham as he was saving a random girl in an alleyway—, no matter how minute, was identical to that of Bruce Wayne's. Well, I guess that should have been my first hint instead of my last, but you get the idea.

No two spirits, not even if they were Siamese twins, have the exact same spiritual energy. I might not have been good at tracking spiritual energy, but I was damn good at identifying them when they're at a decent range.

I knew that Clark knew Bruce Wayne and that there was a possibility that he might get me a job at Wayne Industries or at least get me a job in close proximity with them. I needed to gain their trust in order to gain the trust of the rest of the Justice League, which was why I needed to be close enough to them to have conversations and all that other humanly kind stuff to build up their trust.

"Clark's a sweet boy. He likes to help people who are in need. In fact I think Clark told me that he couldn't make it today because he was talking to a certain Mr. Wayne about getting you a job."

I looked up to Pa's smiling face. I silently thought in my head, _'Good. I just hope things go as planned.'_

'_Yes Mi'Lady, I fear for what Urahara-dono has told us. These Arrancars we've been hearing about, they are not too unlike the Vizards, and you know how strong they are.'_

'_I know Sebastian, but for the moment, even if we were to gain their assistance, they would be of little help to us.'_

'_Nonetheless…'_

'_I know, having a back up plan is good. God knows that Aizen's sure to have one; we might as well have one as well.'_

'_It's time Lady Maximilienne.' _

I casually took out Sebastian from my pocket and popped him open to look at the time. It wasn't like I needed to, but I needed it to look casual. This was because of Sebastian's ability as a zanpaktou; I was always aware of the time.

"Hey Kara, I think you should get to school. You have about 3 minutes left before the warning bell rings."

"Oh! Alright, Bye Ma," She kissed Ma on the cheek, "Bye Pa," She kissed Pa on the cheek, "Bye Max!" She gave me a brief hug and then ruffled my hair. She sped out of the door with her backpack and took off.

"Hey Scout." I looked up at Pa. He had opted to calling me Scout, Kiddo, Sport, etc. I don't think he's used my name once since I've been here.

"Yeah Pa?"

"How about you and me get to working on that tractor?" He bent down slightly to look at me directly.

I looked at Ma, "Can we Ma?" I've found out two things since I've known Urahara. The first thing was: I loved to fight, the second thing was: I loved to build and mess with things. Partake I always need someone who was there to help me, because I myself was very terrible at it. But nonetheless I found it very fascinating. Especially the tractor; we certainly didn't have them back in the Soul Society.

"Finish your waffles and then you can go." I devoured those waffles and sped out the door.

"Come on Pa, what's taking you so long?" Ma and Pa laughed a bit as Pa came out the door and Ma went back to doing whatever it was that she was doing.

These were the moments that I was going to miss. I knew from experience that you have to cherish every moment that you have with the ones you care about, because you'll never know when those moments will disappear.

* * *

xX – The Next Day – Xx

Kara and Clark had both already gone up to the Watchtower for the initiation day. Clark told me that he talked with Bruce Wayne about the possibility of hiring me.

He told me that Mr. Wayne said it was against company policy to hire a minor because of safety hazards and that, currently, there were no positions available even if he wanted to hire me.

I wasn't as dumb as he thought I was though. From Clark's tone I could decipher two things. The first thing was that he wasn't telling me the whole truth.

Mr. Wayne was using those reasons as excuses to not hire me; there was another reason why Mr. Wayne didn't want to hire me. The second thing was that Clark felt guilty. For what I wasn't sure, but he felt guilty nonetheless and I knew it had something to do with me. If it was something that would make any of the heroes, especially Batman and Superman, have any reason to distrust me, then I would have to nip it at its bud; I had to find out why he was so guilty.

Urahara called me last night to tell me that Ichigo finally had some control of his Inner Hollow, but he isn't trained enough to keep it for a long enough time to fight. It appears that Ichigo was pumbled by an Espada, which I learned were the Top 10 Arrancar in Aizen's army, because his time limit for his hollow mask was up. This piece of information was very useful; if we knew where Aizen, Gin, Tousen, and the Espada were at all times, then I could explore the other heavens without fear of Aizen knowing.

There was always his zanpaktou that would cause some troubles though, so I would have to wait for the Winter War no matter what. Still it was a useful piece of evidence.

There really was nothing to do today besides the occasional chores. I figured that if I couldn't work for Wayne Industries in Gotham then I could always look for a job somewhere in Hub City where the Question was, or maybe in Central City where the Flash patrolled, or even Star City where the Green Arrow resided. The closer I was to a superhero, the better.

I couldn't work at the Daily Planet because there was always the possibility that someone might put two and two together to find out that Clark Kent was Superman, though I'm surprised they still haven't. But I could be the final link that would piece the suspicion together; Superman saves a random girl, that random girl works for Daily Planet, the Daily Planet has an employee that looks exactly like Superman, and whenever there is trouble Clark Kent is missing while Superman is there. Though the chances were slim that some people would make the connection, there were always people like Lois Lane that were too close to the story to miss it.

I liked taking risks, but only when it was my ass on the line.

Plus, being surrounded by reporters that would probably put any little information on you on the front cover didn't blow over well with me; I never liked people who couldn't keep their noses to themselves which is why I never liked Squad 9's "Gossip Column" in their newspapers.

There was only one thing that I was certain of, I needed to find a job and fast if I was going to gain the trust of the Justice League before the Winter War started.

'_Why before the Winter War Lady Maximilienne? Do you really think that we'll need their help in the battle? You do know that the Vizards also intend to help. You told me we couldn't use them to fight against Aizen's army anyways.'_

'_I know that, but think of it this way. If we win the Winter War, what will happen then? There is no way that Aizen will stay in punishment and I doubt that anyone would be able to kill him while he still has the Hōgyoku. Urahara told me that those who have fused with the Hōgyoku gain regenerative powers that rendered them near immortal or something like that, I really should have paid a bit more attention when he was explaining it 100 years ago.'_

'_So you think that he'll try to do something with the living. It's still nonsense if you ask me. The living and the dead are suppose to be two separate plains of existence.'_

'_And yet Shinigami are responsible for governing the flow of spirits between the Human World and Soul Society. I just want to be careful. If something happens to me during my investigation during the war, I would like to know that there are people that the Soul Society can turn to. Right now it's impossible for the Soul Society to turn to anyone; I haven't seen anyone from any of the other heavens in my 100 years of traveling. The only other option that we have is the living.'_

'_Yes, but I still don't quite understand why it __**has**__ to be before the Winter War.'_

'_Like I said Sebastian, if something happens to me, I want the Soul Society to have someone to turn to for backup. If I should die…'_

'_Parch the idea Mi'Lady.'_

'_Hear me out, should I die, I want Urahara to have some form of trust connection with the Justice League; I can be a link of sorts. If we don't start trying to get them to trust us now, the rest of the Soul Society will have a hell of a long time before they could get the trust of the entire Justice League. Time is something we can't afford to waste.'_

'_Well Lady Maximilienne, during times of war, people are known to band together despite trust issues. I believe the saying was, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"?'_

'_Yes, but what happens if the Justice League takes it the wrong way and it becomes, "The enemy of my enemy is also my enemy"? We don't need a three-way war. It might seem a little rushed, but I'd feel much more comfortable to gain their trust now rather than later. Plus, better to call dibs on them now than to have Aizen possibly manipulate them.'_

'_As you wish Mi'Lady. I just hope we find a job soon.' _At that moment, the Kents' pet cat Streaky came up and rubbed my leg. I gently pet his fur, grabbing the classified section of Pa's newspaper in the process.

* * *

xX – Up in the Watchtower | Booster Gold's POV - Xx

Superman just finished giving his little "we got to work together" speech and the majority of the group disbanded to either explore the Watchtower or to go out on a mission.

I was on my way to the room that the Justice League gave me.

"Sir, are you not excited to be working with the world renowned Justice League?"

"Yeah, but what's the point Skeets? That Martian guy said that he's not putting me on any of the bigger missions. I mean I came to the 21st Century so that I could be famous. I'm not going to get famous with crowd control duties. I mean it's so boring."

"But Sir…you haven't even tried them yet. You may find it quite enjoyable."

"Yeah right, and I come from the 23rd Century." I found the room that was intended for me; it only took 3 fucking hours to find it. Why the hell did they make this place so damn confusing? Room E317, the room was too small for my tastes and too plain; it only had a twin bed and a desk. With the Watchtower as big as it was, you'd think the rooms would be too.

"What a cheap ass room. You'd think that a world renowned group of superheroes like the Justice League would be able to afford better rooms for their fellow superheroes."

"If you'd like Sir, I could talk with Mr. J'onzz about getting you a bigger room."

"Nah, forget it Skeets. That man has it out for me." I stuck out my finger and pulled it along the surface of the nearest desk. When I looked at my finger, there were tiny specks of dust on it.

"And look at this place, it's so filthy. I know." I snapped my fingers as I exited the room.

"Sir, where are you going?"

"I found a whole bunch of cleaning robots that could spruce my place up. Help me gather them Skeets."

"Are you sure this is wise Sir?"

"Just do as I say Skeets." And with that Skeets and I went to go round up all of the cleaning robots. I would have a beautiful room in no time at all.

* * *

xX – 3 hours later – Xx

Skeets and I rounded up every single robot in the entire Watchtower; only the best for the world's greatest superhero.

There were about 50 some robots that were cleaning my place and boy were they ever doing a good job. They weren't just cleaning my room, they were rearranging it too. I'm sure some of the other League members won't mind swapping a few of my things for theirs. Sharing was caring right?

"This is great Skeets. My place is going to look the best out of all the rooms."

"Sir do you think it is wise to have all of the robots in one room together? Shouldn't they be doing other things like cleaning the other rooms?"

"Don't worry Skeets. Once they're done helping me, they can go back to doing whatever it is they were doing. Now help me with my wrist gauntlets; they're a little loose and I want to tighten them a bit." I began to tamper a bit with my wrist gauntlets.

"Sir! Don't push that button!"

Lasers began to fire from my wrist gauntlets disintegrating everything in its way.

"Woah! Woah! **Woah! **Skeets help!" Skeets began to fly around me, not doing very much might I add.

Suddenly my wrist gauntlets were engulfed in a green sphere and I looked up to see the Green Lantern with a broken arm in a cast. My guess was that he just got back from his mission, "I leave you alone for a few hours and you nearly blow up the place?"

When the lasers stopped firing, the Green Lantern pulled back the energy from his ring.

"Now look what you did."

I looked into my room to see that not only was all the furniture disintegrated, but all the robots were too.

"Uh, oops?"

"Oops is right."

"Woah, what happened here?" Flash and a few other heroes had gathered around the area. Including someone I really didn't want to see…Batman. Man I was totally going to get lectured.

"Woah man, you just blew up all our robots."

"Technically I disintegra…"

"You're on probation Gold." The Green Lantern looked at me angrily.

"For what?"

Green Lantern looked at me with a 'you're-kidding-right?' look.

Some of the technicians and mechanics were called to assess the damage to the robots.

Batman looked at me with his infamous 'Bat-Glare' before turning to the workers, "How long will it take for you to fix them?"

"Two months at the very least sir."

"Booster Gold's lasers really did a number on them."

Superman chose that time to come flying in. I don't understand why he chose that time; you'd think with his super-hearing that he'd be the first one here. Not that I was complaining that he didn't come sooner; less lecture time.

"Hey Bats, what're we gonna do now? Those robots were supposed to take care of cleaning up after most of the heroes. If our new recruits are anything like me, then we're going to be living in a pigsty for the next couple of months." Flash looked towards Batman.

Superman chose that moment to speak, "Hey Batman, remember what we talked about earlier? I know someone who'd be willing to do clean up duty until the robots get fixed."

* * *

xX – Superman's POV – Xx

I flew over to the noise that I heard not too long ago. I was about to fly there sooner, but the technicians were having a bit of trouble with the teleporters and Kara just got back from her first mission a little more than worse for the wear.

When I got to the site I saw Booster Gold standing with a steaming wrist, most likely from his wrist lasers, and a group of superheroes standing in front of a room filled with dead/dying robots.

Flash spoke the question that was on my mind, "Hey Bats, what're we gonna do now? Those robots were supposed to take care of cleaning up after most of the heroes. If our new recruits are anything like me, then we're going to be living in a pigsty for the next couple of months."

'_Max! This is the opportunity that she needs.' _ Partake it was only two months, but this would be just the thing she was looking for…sort of. I remembered the day we had the conversation about her wanting a job.

* * *

I came home for the weekend to visit Ma, Pa, Kara, and our newest edition to our family Max.

"Hey Clark!"

I looked around and I couldn't see anyone. I said in a playful tone, "Hmmm, I wonder who that could be? Are the rats talking now?"

I swear I could almost hear the pout from below me and then a small girl jumped onto me, "Clark it's me, Max!"

I laughed a bit too and picked her up. This became a routine over the past few weeks. I would pretend not to see her and in return she would jump me. She told me that this routine reminded her of a similar one she had with someone named Tessai. Despite her claims of being at least 15, I couldn't help but treat her like a child. I guess appearances do make a big difference.

Usually she got mad when anyone did anything to trigger her Napoleon Complex, but I think that, despite the fact that it's only been a few weeks since I've known her, we've bonded to a point where she knows I'm not insulting or looking down on her, no pun intended.

"Where're the others?"

"Ma and Pa went to town to go get the mail and Kara went to a friend's house to do a project for school."

"So you're home alone? That's a little dangerous don't you think?"

"Clark," she groaned, "I'm older than I look, we live in the middle of nowhere, I'm not exactly weak, and you were coming home so I'm perfectly safe."

"Alright, alright." I carried her to the kitchen table and set her down on a chair. I then went into the kitchen where I began to make her a sandwich.

This too was our routine; whenever I came to visit, I would make a sandwich and then divide it in two diagonally. Then we would eat it while we talk about random junk.

"So how's it going with you? Did anything happen that I should know about?"

She looked up at me with teary eyes and asked me a question that stunned me, "Do you think I'm a burden Clark?"

I put down the knife that I was using to spread the peanut butter on the sandwiches and walked over to her, "What? Why do you think that?"

"I came here to America so that I could learn to be independent. I don't want to keep living off of you guys, though I do appreciate everything that you've done."

I sat down in front of her abandoning our sandwich, "You're not being a burden. Ma and Pa love you and so do Kara and I."

"I know that, and I care about you guys too, but I came here to be independent. You know to look for a job and gain experience in the real world."

"But you don't have to…"

"But I want to. I can't help but feel that I am a burden. I've wanted a job since the first day that I arrived at America so that I wouldn't be a burden Clark. But no one will hire me because I'm too small; they don't trust that I'm not a child. And I don't have any ID and…and…" She sniffed and her watery eyes were threatening to leak.

I panicked slightly; I was never good with people who cried, "How about this? I have a friend and I'll ask him if he could hire you. How about that?"

"Really? You'd do that for me?" She jumped and hugged me, "Thank you so much Clark!"

I returned the hug and patted her back. I'm sure that Bruce wouldn't mind, he owed me a favor or two. Of course I owed him a couple too…so that might have evened it out.

"Just curious, but are there any preferences?" It would be safe for me to know what she could handle and what she couldn't before I asked Bruce.

"Anything is fine really, but I really want to work somewhere close to you and it'd be great if I could be near Kara too…but that'd be impossible since her school is on the other side of the town, away from the Daily Planet."

"That would be great. Kara and I could just pick you up after work if we could find one like that…"

"Oh, and the job doesn't have to be permanent. I just need a bit of work experience so I can put something on a resume for future jobs." These requests didn't seem too unreasonable. She wanted somewhere close to us so that she wouldn't be too independent—she was still legally a child, so having her close in case of emergencies was good—and she didn't need to have a permanent job as it would probably hinder her if she ever needed to go home to her caretaker Uha…something. Her prodigy status would help a bit as well; seeing as she graduated from school in just 7 years.

Now I just had to pray that Bruce would say yes.

"So any job is fine?"

"Yup, any job. Filing papers, cooking, cleaning, anything."

"Alright, I'll do my best."

"Thank you Clark, oh thank you so much!"

* * *

I looked towards Bruce, "Hey Batman, remember what we talked about earlier? I know someone who'd be willing to do clean up duty until the robots get fixed."

"Come on we can go discuss the details with the rest of the Founders."

Discussing job hiring decisions was the job of all the Founders. This was because we didn't want anyone working in the Justice League that could possibly be a spy or anything of the sort. Just because I trusted Max, didn't mean everyone else would…especially Batman.

J'onn mentally gathered everyone into the Founders' Room, a sound-proof, x-ray proof, everything proof room, that only the Founders could access and were allowed in. Well, all the Founders minus 1, but that didn't mean that she wasn't welcome back. It was just that we didn't register her voice or her fingerprint or her eye scan just yet.

We all sat down and I looked around the group as the Flash spoke up, "What's up Supes? Is this about what Booster did?"

"Yes, it appears that the robots wouldn't be fixed for at least another 2 months. Having new ones shipped in might take longer due to miscellaneous provisions."

"What? But we just got them?" Diana had both a look of shock and anger.

Green Lantern then spoke up, "Told you we shouldn't have recruited him. One day in the Watchtower and he manages to disintegrate all of our robots, his entire room, and those adjacent to it."

"Now calm down. I gathered you all here to propose someone for the position. A janitor of sorts; just until we can fix the robots."

"Well who is it?"

"Her name is Maximilienne, but I just call her Max. I'm sure she'll tell you to do the same. She's…"

"Just some kid." I glared slightly at Batman.

"She's a good kid…"

"That's suspicious on every level."

Green Lantern looked at Batman, "Why, what's wrong with her?"

"Nothing is wrong with her…"

"Except for the fact that we know nothing about her. She mysteriously came to America…"

"To look for a job…"

"She's **supposedly **15 or so…"

"She was abandoned as a child. What do you want from her…"

"She displays, from what Superman said, almost inhuman strength for her size…"

"It could have just been adrenaline rush…"

"And she knows Clark's identity."

"Hey, it was Kara who blew my cover…"

"Superman, we don't know anything about this kid except that she was somehow abandoned as a child, about 15 years old, came to find a job to be independent and her guardian didn't mind in the slightest, which in and of itself is highly unbelievable, and has the strength of someone who is at least twice her size."

"But she's a good kid and I trust her Bruce. She's never given me any reason to doubt her."

"If Superman trusts her I don't see any reason to discredit it." I gave Diana a relieved and appreciative look.

"I don't know, I mean, Batman's got a point. Just how much do you know about this kid Superman?" I could tell that some of them were still a little weary after the Thanagarian invasion incident.

"Come on Green Lantern, I've checked her out with her guardian and her story adds up. So she had an adrenaline rush and beat down a couple of robbers. It's not the most amazing thing in the world."

"Well, if you trust her, I'll give her a chance. But for a Watchtower this big, shouldn't there be more than just one person?"

"She lives with my parents and Kara, so for the most part she'll be able to stay here for an entire day if she wanted to. There are beds here and such, and I think it would be a good lesson for her in discipline and learning 'the value of a dollar.'"

"Still, it's a pretty big Watchtower. And what about Child Labor Laws?"

"Aww you worry too much GL. If Supes says that it's fine, then it's fine. Besides, we're in space. It's like, International Waters or something; I don't think Child Labor Laws apply. Don't worry Supes, you got my vote." I smiled at the Flash.

"As long as you trust her." J'onn didn't seem to either disagree or agree with my decision, but either way, I had his vote for Max.

"Looks like its 5-1 Batman. Look, how about you give her a chance and you can do a small interview tomorrow? Just try not to interrogate her to a point where she'll run away. I'll tell her today so that she can start tomorrow morning."

Batman scoffed a bit, but with the finality tone in my voice, the meeting was adjourned.

Before the door opened and they could leave the room I told them one piece of advice, "By the way guys. Don't make **any **comments about her height. It's a bit of a touchy subject for her."

* * *

xX – Max's POV – Xx

Clark came back with Kara not too long ago for dinner.

When dinner was finished I went up with Kara to her room to ask her about her injuries, "Wow, what happened to you? You like you got into a train wreck."

"I screwed up on a mission. I got Captain Atom, the Green Arrow, and the Green Lantern all hurt." She sighed and sat on the floor of her room, "I acted like an idiot. I thought I could take the enemy down, but I wasn't strong enough."

I tilted her head up slightly, "Then learn from this mistake. Don't act like an idiot next time."

I thought back to all the times that I messed up on a mission. A few of those times it cost the lives of my fellow teammates, "I think that sometimes something bad have to happen before something good can. As long as you learn from this experience, the injuries of your friends won't be wasted."

"But I still feel like I screwed up…"

"And you did. But that doesn't mean the end of the world. The next time you go on a mission you'll correct the mistake from your first one, but you'll make more. Then the mission after that you'll correct that mistake and make a few other ones. And so on and so forth. Argonian or not, you make mistakes just like humans do. No one is ever going to be perfect, but you can always strive to be." She smiled a bit and got up to give me a hug.

"Thanks."

"That's what I'm here for." I smiled silently thinking back to all the times that I've ever messed up during a mission.

It wasn't because I was perfect that I became a Lieutenant; it was because I learned from all my mistakes and I did my best not to repeat them. Hell even the best Captains like Captain Ukitake made mistakes, but that doesn't make him a bad Captain, that just makes him 'human'…sort of.

"Max! Kara! Come down here for a sec!" I could hear Clark yelling for us to come down.

Kara flew down the stairs with me trailing behind her, "What is it Clark?"

"You'll never believe it Max, I got you a job."

'_I hope that it's somewhere close to a member of the Justice League.'_

'_Even if it isn't Mi'Lady, I'm sure you can make it work somehow.'_

'_Yes, but it would be very convenient to be around at least one or two of them. I need to get good relations with them, not be on the other side of town or on the other side of the world.'_

"I know it's not the most dignified job, but I got you a job as a janitor for the Justice League."

'_Or I could be working in the same building as all of them.'_

"So what do you think?"

'_You can't be serious Lady Maximilienne! Preposterous! You even said it yourself; the jobs of a 4__th__ Squad member are below you. You remember right? 200 years ago you said that! How dare Mr. Kent even think about giving you such a lowly job! I won't stand for this you hear? Are you spacing out aga…?'_

"This is wonderful Clark!" I jumped up to hug him.

'_Are you deaf Mi'Lady? He's asking you to be a __**Janitor**__! __**A JANITOR**__!'_

Clark let me down, "You're welcome. You can start tomorrow."

'_You shouldn't be starting at all! This lowly job is not fit for you! I've had to put up with a lot of things during your times of travel, but this has got to be worse than the time with the manhole!'_

I promptly smacked Sebastian in my pocket, "This is so great. I can't wait to start."

"Now it's only for 2 months until we fix our robots, but it'll give you the experience that you want. There are benefits, and the pay is really good too…despite the position."

I just smiled up to Clark as he continued to talk about the benefits and such. These things, apparently, were the same for all the employees at the Watchtower minus the heroes. Was Clark even aware that he said that it would only be for 2 months? He acts like I'll be working here my whole life.

'_And another thing…did you hear a word I said?'_

'_Sebastian, shut up.'_

'_Mi'Lady, what terribly foul language! That is no way for a proper woman to speak…'_

'_Look, this is probably the best position I could have gotten for a mission like this. This is better than being a mechanic or a technician. Think about it, I can go through their garbage quite literally without them questioning my motives, I can go everywhere in the Watchtower and just use the excuse that I was there to clean it, and all the while I'll be completely inconspicuous.'_

'_But don't you find it strange that you're the only one cleaning the Watchtower? From what I've heard it is rather large. You won't be able to Shunpo your way through it with all the people there.'_

"Plus it gives you, Kara, and I lots of time to bond. You'll be the only one cleaning because its a bit short notice, but that just means that we'll have that much more time to bond. Plus you get weekends off so we can visit Ma and Pa. You get your own room and…"

'_Does that answer your "why I'm the only one cleaning the Watchtower" question?'_

'_Yes, but Mi'Lady, __**cleaning**__?'_

'_At this point, I'm willing to do anything that will help bring down Aizen. I hate the cleaning, but I hate Aizen even more.'_

I looked at the Kent family's happy faces as we conversed about my new job.

'_And I'm willing to do anything that will help preserve this family and those like it. It isn't their fault that they're dragged into this Sebastian.'_

'_I understand Mi'Lady. If you think it's right.'_

I saw as the Kents all laughed at the prospect of me being too short to hold the mop.

'_Yeah, this is right.'_

* * *

Sorry if that wasn't all that great and I know I'm a little slow on updates and such. I'm also sorry that for the most part it seems rather uneventful, but please take into mind that since this is the beginning chapters, I do have to explain quite a bit because I have an OC for a main character.

Thank you all for those who read this far and please review and/or take my poll. It does motivate me to keep going. It takes a few minutes, if that, but it lasts a lifetime and it keeps me happy for months on end.


	3. Questionable Interview Beta

_I would like to first and foremost thank signed reviewers HatchetChu and asredwer for posting their reviews on Noble Janitor as well as anonymous reviewers Frenzi99 and mf. _

_I would also like to thank the anonymous two people who took my poll._

_Thank you to Frenzi99, hulkbuster04, and Delphine Pryde for adding this story to their story alert list and a105, asredwer, HatchetChu, LazyPlotBunnies, and Shin-Revan for adding this story to their favorites list._

_Finally thank you to everyone who has read up until this point. _

_These are the reasons why that motivated me to update; I got relatively large amounts of feedback considering I just started the series._

_I understand that the chapters so far were rather lengthy and I apologize. The reason being is because I didn't want to be hypocritical when I said that I didn't like people who updated short chapters, and then I end up becoming someone that didn't update long enough chapters. I will try to keep it shorter, but there are honestly no guarantees._

_On a final note: this arc will end in about 2-4 more chapters, so please bear with me. I know that there isn't much going on at the moment, but I would like to remind people that this is just the beginning, and that I have to explain some things or they might not make much sense later on. Sorry and thank you once again for everyone who has read it and I thoroughly appreciate all and any feedback._

_I will be referring to Shinigami attire, weaponry, titles, and such in their Japanese names to prevent some confusion and to make it easier to understand. Now I just found out a timeline of when each fight or event took place in the Bleach timeline, but to me it doesn't make much sense to a certain degree. So the dates won't match up (unless of course I know from hints in the show what date it really is), but the events will still take place in chronological order _

"_**This is Japanese"**_

"_Thoughts/Dreams"_

"English Speech"

"**Flashback (unless it's used to emphasize something)"**

**__****Important Note: I do not watch fillers (in the Manga, Maki Ichinose didn't exist and Squad 11 in the Turn Back the Pendulum arc did not have a Lieutenant), and I only use material from the Manga (unless the Anime episodes follow really close to the Manga where they only change a few lines). This is because Manga is canon material, and it is what the author intended it to be; it is the actual storyline. So if there are any filler episode characters or things that you want me to add, I will not add them. Sorry.**

* * *

Have you ever asked an important question? Well that's a pretty dumb thing to ask isn't it?

I'm not talking about asking yourself what you should wear to the prom, or asking yourself what you want to be when you grow older. I'm not even talking about asking someone out on a date.

I'm talking about non-hypothetical questions that are unanswerable by human means.

These questions are, but are not limited to, "What is the meaning of life?" or "How did we come to exist?", and my absolute favorite one, "What happens to us when we die?"

Humans have beliefs about how they were created, why they're alive, and where they go when they die. They have, however, no concrete knowledge or evidence of any sort.

Shinigami and other position holding spiritual entities, know how they were created, know why they exist, and they know what happens to them when they die—depending on who kills them.

Shinigami were 'created' when they died in the World of the Living, had enough spiritual energy, and took up the position of a Shinigami.

Shinigami exist to maintain the balance between the living and the dead; to govern the souls that enter and exit their respectable realms.

Shinigami know that when they die, they will either be reborn as a human some 10-40 years after their death, or they will cease to exist and their spiritual particles will remain in the Soul Society forever.

Shinigami know all of these things and, instead of widespread panic about their knowledge, there is a sense of acceptance and understanding, so why is it so dangerous to tell the humans about their afterlife or why and how they exist?

As a Shinigami I can't speak for the latter two (because I don't know), but I can understand why it would be hazardous for humans to know about the afterlife.

Humans just aren't ready to know about life after death. Now you might be thinking, hell, if I knew that I might become a Shinigami or an Angel in the afterlife then I won't be afraid to die. Well there's the problem.

If people know what's going to happen to them in the afterlife, they may find the afterlife hold more meaning than their current life. I'm not talking about the suicidal people that want an escape from existence; I'm talking about the people who crave for power and know that if they become Angels or such, they'll have it. Though not as powerful, could you imagine millions of people who had the same God-complex as Aizen running around in the world of the living and the dead?

Shinigami can understand, better than the humans anyways, why knowledge of the coexistence between the world of the living and the dead is dangerous.

Shinigami are brought up understanding the dangers; however most humans are brought up to wonder about life after death, and will most likely try to dissect any information that they have for all its worth.

I'm just glad that Batman wasn't like most humans.

* * *

xX- Smallville | 6:35 AM –Xx

I walked through the doors of the Shihōin Estate, followed by my students: Yoruichi, Kisuke, and Tessai. I was in that dream again, I just knew it. I hoped that this time it would end before it became a nightmare.

"Sensei, why are we here?" I looked up at Yoruichi; she was a good 5'1" now.

"You, Urahara-san, and Te-chan said that you wanted to be Shinigami right?"

"But Maxi-chan, we are forbidden from entering the Academy." I looked to Urahara; he was a good 5'10" now.

A smirk formed on my face, "Says who?"

Not catching my sarcasm, Tessai continued, "Says our guardians Zaraki-Sensei. Lady Yoruichi is forbidden to attend Shinō Academy because she's to practice lessons on being a proper lady for the Shihōin household, and Urahara-san and I are forbidden because under Shihōin house rules, no one but the main family is allowed to become a Shinigami unless they are direct bodyguards to a member of the main household."

"We'll see about that Te-chan."

Tessai was right in every sense of the word.

Normally a member of the Shihōin family would attend the Shinō Academy, and then they would be placed in Onmitsukidō where they would be under the direct orders of the Shihōin family as the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō is the head of the Shihōin family. With Yoruichi being the heir, she would eventually become, by default, the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō after she received proper training, **but** normally the heir would be male; her father planned for her to marry someone of high status and let them becoming the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō.

The males of the Shihōin family were expected to be strong, brave, and fearless; they represented the tougher aspects of the Shihōin family. The females, however, were expected to be graceful, poised, and elegant; they represented the more delicate aspects of the Shihōin family. The heir, traditionally a male, therefore, was expected to be strong and powerful. This put pressure on Yoruichi to be both tough and delicate; she was to represent both qualities of the Shihōin family. Some members of the family didn't want both qualities because they believed that delicate qualities were unnecessary for the Head.

She was forbidden from attending the Shinō Academy, because it was believed that a female head would not be able to keep up with being the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō, and it was believed that a female noble (who was suppose to be fragile) couldn't enter the Onmitsukidō. Sure there were females in the Onmitsukidō, but none of them were of direct noble status like Yoruichi was.

Kisuke and Tessai were forbidden from attending for different reasons— besides just the Shihōin house rules. It was believed that Kisuke and Tessai would, in some way, dishonor the Shihōin family. Though they were not directly related to anyone in the Shihōin family, they lived in the Shihōin Estate, and thereby they indirectly represented the family.

It wasn't that Kisuke or Tessai were weak or incapable, it was just that the 21st Head of the Shihōin family was an arrogant man who looked down on the 'needy'. Kisuke and Tessai weren't official members of the family, and because they were living here for practically nothing the Head categorized them as the "needy."

I was here today to convince the Head to allow them to pursue their dreams of becoming Shinigami, or whatever else they wanted to become after they graduated from the Academy. If I could convince the Head, I would basically have convince all the caretakers and the guardians; the Head's word was law in the Shihōin household.

I made sure that I looked at least somewhat presentable today; my Shihakushō had been nice and ironed (though a bit wrinkled from my nap); I had to borrow someone else's because my actual Shihakushō was a more than a little unorthodox, I made sure to clearly show off my Lieutenant Arm Badge, and I even brushed my hair (though when it refused to stay down I tied it up into a ponytail). Normally I didn't care for my appearance, but the Shihōins did, and that was all that mattered at the moment; I would get my students into the Shinō Academy even if it killed me, and at the rate that this was going, it just might.

I could feel the looks of disgust geared towards my direction, but I openly welcomed it. I stood tall and tried my best to put on an 'I'm-better-than-you' aura around me to make myself seem more important than I really was. This job would have been a lot easier if I were a Captain instead of a Lieutenant, but alas, I wasn't, so I would just have to work with what I had.

Squad 11 was the squad that was the most demeaned by the noble families. I didn't like it, but there was nothing that I could do. I completely blame my Captain Kiganjō Kenpachi. He didn't deserve the title of 'Kenpachi'; prior to his becoming a Captain his name was Kiganjō Gosuke. He was good at sword fighting, or Zanjutsu, I'll admit that, but he was no where near as strong any of the other Captains of the Gotei 13. He was arrogant, cocky, lazy, and not all that great; Squad 11 was already considered a disgraceful squad as it was; his demeanor didn't help the squad's image in the slightest.

I'm going to sound cocky for this, but I believe that even I could beat him. In Zanjutsu, I'm not so sure because, unlike Kenpachi's Zanpakutō release, Sebastian was non-combatant. He had great abilities yes, but in Squad 11; there was an unspoken rule about how you could never kill your opponents with kidō of any sort, and Sebastian's Zanpakutō abilities were considered 'Kidō' orientated by the Squad members. The only reason why I didn't join the Kidō orientated Squad 5 or the Kidō Corps was because despite having a Kidō Zanpakutō, I sucked at it. I made binding spells blow up in my face—which made no sense whatsoever.

My hand-to-hand combat, or Hakuda, was the best in the squad and that alone should have gotten me a Captain's position, but Squad 11 was a sword orientated Squad; Squad 2 was the Hakuda orientated Squad. I didn't join Squad 2 because I had an issue with authority and my stealth was no better than Kenpachi's was.

After a decent amount of walking, we arrived at the door to the "Throne" room.

A few members of the Onmitsukidō stood outside the door and I answered their unspoken question, "I am Zaraki Maximilienne, Lieutenant of Squad 11. I have business to discuss with the head of the Shihōin family, Master Shihōin Senichi."

They simultaneously nodded their heads and the door was opened to reveal Senichi sitting there in all his haughty glory.

"You three stay out here until I finish do you understand?"

Sensing the seriousness in my tone and the tension in the atmosphere, Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Tessai silently nodded their heads. I don't know why I even bothered to tell them to stay out; they were just going to eavesdrop anyways.

I walked through the giant double doors and up to Senichi. I got on my knees and gave a proper bow in his direction; I was willing to sacrifice **some **of my pride in light of the situation.

"What's this? Zaraki Marimikitiny. Now what's a brute like you doing here?" I wanted to punch that sleeze ball right in his face—how hard was it to just say Max?—, but there was one thing that prevented me from doing so; the knowledge that the man in front of me, despite how arrogant and annoying he was, was the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō. I might be a master at Hakuda, but so was he. The only difference was that I was one person, he had an entire army behind him; I was considered a brute, he was considered an honorable nobleman; I am a Lieutenant, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō and the head of one of the four noble families.

No matter what angle you looked at it from I was at a clear disadvantage. If I fought him, I would surely loose; man's got so much backup that they had to create a new sub-division, the Onmitsukidō, cause they wouldn't all fit in the Gotei 13. If I attacked him and miraculously beat him, then I would have the Onmitsukidō after me, the nobles after me, and even the members of the Gotei 13. I would be branded as a traitor and I could quite possibility be executed. Even if I knew what was going to happen 150 years later with the Hollowfication incident, I still wouldn't have attacked him.

"Master Shihōin, as you may or may not be aware, I have been training your daughter, Lady Yoruichi, and her friends, Master Tsukabishi and Master Urahara." Another thing about Senichi was that he was Yoruichi's father—tough break for the kid.

"Yes I am aware, and if you are seeking my approval, I am sure you are aware that it has been denied to you for the past 50 years. Though I don't know why you would pick now of all times to ask me for my blessings." It was true that the Shihōin family disapproved of me training their 'future generation', but because I had saved Yoruichi all those years ago, they have been letting it slide. Despite being an arrogant prick, Senichi truly did love his daughter, and that's the only thing that I respected about him besides his strength.

Senichi, however, would pick on every little issue that he had with my training, my mannerisms, and just about everything else about me. I never fought back because 1) I needed good relations with the Shihōin family for future benefits and B) I liked training my students, and I'd be damned if anyone took them away from me because of my own doings.

"To think that a brute like you is training my daughter of all things. I honestly can't say you haven't been doing a good job, but I just hope she doesn't catch any of your bad habits and turn into an animal."

Despite hating me as a person, Senichi did accept me as a worthy teacher. I taught Yoruichi and the others everything that I knew about Hakuda and a bit Zanjutsu as well. Senichi would never admit it, though he agrees, that Kisuke, Tesssai, and Yoruichi have gotten much better in the 50 years that I've trained them than in the 100+ years that they've trained with the Onmitsukidō. I don't think it's because I'm better than they are, hell no, but I think it's because I treat them like individuals rather than just students there to learn; I give them one on one time and I don't give any of them special treatment. Many would call my training unorthodox or violent to the point of torture, but hey, if it works why not?

"My apologies if you find my mannerisms…inadequate."

"Oh believe me, I find them more than just inadequate." I decided to ignore that.

"But Mi'Lord, I am not here to ask for your blessings for training my students. I am here to ask you to allow them to attend the Shinō Academy to further their…"

"I absolutely refuse."

"But Mi'Lord…"

"My judgment is final and my word is law in the Shihōin household." My patience with this man was running thin and running thinner with every passing millisecond, but it wasn't as if I hadn't expected this reply; therefore I came up with a backup plan earlier on.

"Is it because you believe them to be incapable Mi'Lord?"

"What I believe shouldn't matter to a barbarian like you who is incapable of understanding anything more than fighting." Senichi believed that the only thing that I could do was fight, but he believed that both he and his Onmitsukidō were stronger than I. Yes he is stronger than me, which is why I would never want to fight him, but his Onmitsukidō was not. At least they weren't when we fought one-on-one. In an all out battle, I would lose, but I knew that I had a chance to win if it was just one-on-one.

"Then I propose a wager Mi'Lord," his eyebrow rose, "if I am unable to take down every member of the Onmitsukidō in a one-on-one match of pure Hakuda, minus you of course Mi'Lord for I believe that to be an overkill even for me, then You will be free to do as you wish with me Mi'Lord. Anything that you wish, whether it is for me to never speak with the young lady and masters again, or if you wish to demean me in some other way. You may even execute me if that is what you wish, Mi'Lord."

It was a high wager, but I've realized over the years that the higher the wager, the more you can ask for, and I was going to ask for a lot.

"And what of you if you miraculously succeed?" He had a smug look on his face; the man took much pride in his Onmitsukidō.

"Then Lady Yoruichi and Masters Tsukabishi and Urahara will be allowed to attend the Shinō Academy until they graduate and are assigned to a Squad. Afterwards they will be free to do anything they wish within the boundaries of a Shinigami or whatever they may choose to become."

"You would go this far just for them to attend the Shinō Academy?"

"Yes Mi'Lord. For this is what they wish above all else." I looked him straight in the eyes. I was trying my best to intimidate him, but with my 4'5" stature and my baby face, it wasn't very effective. Plus, trying to intimidate a noble is like trying to dig from one end of the Earth to the next; you may think you can, but good luck trying.

"Your answer Mi'Lord?"

"Instead of you fighting with the entire Onmitsukidō, let's change it to where you only fight with me." He smiled some evil smile. That's the smile that says, "I've been looking for a chance to whoop your ass without any consequences that might be the result of it."

I couldn't say that I didn't want a chance to whoop his ass with all the grief he's given me over the past 50 years, but this could be bad; the reason why I left him out of the bargain in the first place was that he was really good. I could take down the entire Onmitsukidō one-on-one, but their Commander-in-Chief? No way. He is crazy good, and the only reason why he didn't teach Yoruichi, was because he didn't know how; being strong and being able to teach are two totally different things.

Fighting him with Hakuda was like fighting Kenpachi with Zanjutsu; I might have hated them, but they're masters at what they do; I don't' think I'd be able to beat them.

I didn't want to fight Senichi, but my students' needs outweighed my own. The only thought that went through my head was, _"I lived a good death."_

I stuck out my hand and the second Senichi shook it, we both used Shunpo to go to the Training Field; I had been to the Shihōin Estate before, so I was aware, at least slightly, of its layouts. I looked around to see members of the various branches of the Onmitsukidō, from the Executive Militia to the Detention Unit to the Reversal Counter Force. Obviously this wasn't the entire Onmitsukidō as there were only a couple hundred watching, but this was a considerable amount.

There were, without a doubt, people watching and listening to our conversation, though they were very well hidden at the time; I knew they were there, but I couldn't pinpoint a single one of them. They must have been the ones to send for the other members of this audience.

"Sensei!/Zaraki-Sensei!/Maxi-Chan!" I looked over my shoulder to see my students on the rooftop of a neighboring building.

Senichi motioned for Yoruichi and Tessai to come down and they Shunpo-ed to him.

I did the same and motioned for Urahara to come down.

Senichi handed his Zanpakutō to Yoruichi as I gave Sebastian to Urahara.

Senichi looked towards Tessai, "Tessai-san, create a barrier around this area." Tessai's Kidō skills were widely known throughout the Shihōin family. I wasn't sure if Senichi was trying to keep out members of his Onmitsukidō or if he was trying to keep me in to make sure that I didn't run away.

If it was the latter, it was unnecessary; a Squad 11 member never runs from a fight, but I was thankful if it was for the former; defeating Senichi would be a challenge in and of itself. I didn't need to try to fight off the Onmitsukidō as well. I didn't need to worry about that though; despite Senichi being the arrogant man that he was, he would never try to cheat to win; he had his reputation on the line and he was an honorable enough man.

My three students Shunpo-ed to the viewing area; there were roves all around the training area for viewing purposes, but there was one large area in the center that allowed for people to compete and/or train.

"We fight until the other one is incapable, but not to the death."

Senichi just smiled his little smug smile and nodded slightly. It wouldn't be beneficial for him to kill me because I was doing a decent job training his daughter, and I wouldn't kill him even if I could.

He opened his mouth and in a happy girly voice said, "Come on Max wake up. We have to get ready. Today's the big day!"

I looked at him, "What?"

"Max, wake up!"

* * *

My eyes shot open only to come face to face with Kara. Needless to say I screamed. Normally I was very attentive, even in my sleep, but that dream grabbed all of my attention.

I gently pushed Kara's face out of mine, "Kara, don't do that. You're going to take 10 years off my life." Not like it would make too much of a difference, but I'd still like to live as long as I could…in death.

"Sorry." Kara laughed a bit with a sheepish grin on her face; I had a tired one.

"Come on you two, get ready," Ma came up to me, "today's the big day sweetie. Now I couldn't get you a dress on such short notice but I did get you this!"

I looked up to Ma's smiling face as she extended her hands towards me.

'_The Lady does know that you are working as a janitor and not a secretary right? I don't even think the people there would expect you to wear shortalls let alone a dress. They probably expect you to wear something gaudy like…oh I don't know your prior attire.'_

'_Sebastian, shut up.' _I smacked him for extra measures.

"I found this and I thought it was the cutest thing for you." There she goes again with the kid stuff. This whole "acting like a kid" thing was getting rather annoying. I don't blame them for thinking that I'm a child, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. In her hands was a pink hairclip that was in the shape of a bunny's head. I'll admit it's kind of cute, but it just wasn't my style. I would rather have something like a simple hair tie, but my hair was too short for that; it had become a bit longer since my time from living on the streets, but that didn't mean that it was long enough for me to tie it up. It was now, more or less, in the style of Mashiro's hair after she cut it once we arrived in the Human World 100 or so years back, only it was much messier with more volume.

"Thanks Ma, but…"

"Oh I knew you would just love it." She proceeded to put it in my hair. I figured that I should have just her have her way; I was going to be gone soon anyways. Luckily for me it kept slipping out of my hair.

I sensed Clark coming into the room; I couldn't see him because Ma was in front of me trying to get my hair to work with her.

"Ma come on, we're going to be late if Max doesn't get ready right now."

"Just a minute Clark."

That's when I decided that it would be the right time to gently push Ma away, "Clark's right Ma. I don't want to be late on the first day."

Ma pouted slightly, but otherwise didn't argue.

I gave Clark a look of thanks, it wasn't like he could use his superspeed to get to the transport area, as I rushed into the bathroom to get ready. Once I was ready I sped down the stairs, ate my breakfast, and said my goodbyes to Ma and Pa.

Clark scooped me into his arms and both he and Kara flew to their designated transport spots. It was suppose to be a spot in the middle of nowhere, but I didn't understand why he didn't just put it in somewhere in the Kent Household; it was basically in the middle of nowhere.

"Are you excited Max?"

I looked at Kara's beaming face. I wasn't really all too excited; this wasn't a vacation or even a simple job that I was doing for a couple of extra bucks. This was a mission that would determine the survival of both the living and the dead worlds, but I couldn't let her know that so I just smiled, "Yeah, I'm really excited."

My cellphone chose that moment to ring. Normally Urahara called at night, so whatever this was, it had to be important.

"_**Moshi Moshi."**_

"_**Maxi-chan! Inoue-san's gone!"**_

"_**Wait, who?"**_

"_**One of the humans that I told you about that got their powers because they hung around Kurosaki-san."**_

"_**Oh, the healing one right? Well…just go find her then." **_Normally I'd care a bit more about something like a kidnapping, but my dream was still bothering me. Besides, there were more pressing matters now than just one missing girl.

"_**She was taken by Aizen." **_My face must have expressed some emotion of shock because Clark worriedly asked me if everything was alright. I didn't answer him, this was too important; what would Aizen, of all people, want with a human? Even if she was able to heal, that wouldn't be a good enough reason to just up and take her.

"_**Do you know why? Any reason at all why she would interest Aizen?"**_

"_**Apparently her healing abilities are the only thing that we could think of that distinguished her from everyone else. She's not that great of a fighter, and her shield is no stronger than a Bakudō 39."**_

"_**I think Aizen's just screwing with us. Wouldn't be the first time."**_

"_**Yes, but the Soul Society has labeled her as a traitor. Normally this wouldn't be too much of an issue, but…"**_

"_**Let me guess. Kurosaki-san wants to go after her, am I right?" **_I sighed slightly. Urahara told me about Ichigo's dying devotion towards his friends or something like that; he was just like his father. This wasn't good, if Ichigo was going to get on the wrong side of the Soul Society…in the middle of a war…when he was suppose to be our trump card because he's the only one that's never seen Aizen's release…and he goes into the middle of Hueco Mundo with the possibility of him fighting Aizen before he's ready…shit, we're going to be so screwed.

"_**Maxi-chan…what should I do?" **_Urahara normally wasn't one to ask for advice, but this situation could go either way.

If Ichigo didn't go after his friend Princess or Hime something (I wasn't good with names), then either he could stay on the good side of the Soul Society, not fall into Aizen's probable trap, and be able to win the war with minimum sacrifices. On the other hand, if he didn't go and this wasn't a trap, then he probably just killed off one of his friends on a whim and Aizen could have used this Princess girl for whatever it is he is planning and there would be no one to stop him. This being, Aizen would win the war.

On the other hand, if Ichigo went after his friend Princess, then he could be falling into a trap and we would lose our trump card. On the other other hand, if Ichigo did go after his friend then he might be able to find out some secrets along the way about Aizen and rescue his friend Princess. There was a good and bad for both solutions.

But then I thought back, even if the whole world were to freeze over or blow up, I would still help my students anyway I could. I unconsciously touched my right arm. It was hard for people to notice unless they paid really close attention, but my arms weren't identical with one another. My right arm had some scars on it, but because of my lighter skin tone, it wasn't too noticeable unless you knew they were there—like with the rest of the scars on my body. Anything, I'd do **anything **for them.

"_**Urahara-san, you couldn't stop the boy even if you tried." **_I inwardly smiled. If this boy was anything like his father, and his father was like me, then you could put a mine field between him and his Princess friend; he'd still go after her.

"_**Are you sure Maxi-chan?"**_

"_**It'll all work out eventually…I hope. I have to go now, I think the Man of Steel needs to tell me something."**_

"_**Alright…take care."**_

"_**You too. Give me updates daily if you can." **_I hung up on Urahara and looked at Clark. I wasn't lying when I said that it looked like he wanted to tell me something; he looked like Urahara after he did something wrong and he wanted to tell you about it, but he wasn't sure how.

"What is it Clark?"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally saying something, "Well…you see. I sort of told Batman about the little…uh…robber incident."

Well that wasn't something important, but if this was what he felt so guilty about, he had no real reason to be. It wasn't like I was trying to hide from the world that I could beat up a couple of crooks.

"Well, now Batman's a bit…suspicious, as well as the rest of the League."

'_So that's what it was, just great. I didn't even meet them yet and already I'm going to face some trust difficulties.'_

'_You also have to remember Lady Maximilienne; they are still recovering from their betrayal from the woman of the Hawks. Which, if you forgot, is the reason why you couldn't just straight up tell them that you needed their help for this war.'_

'_Hawkgirl, Sebastian, and it was the Thanagarian invasion. If you watched the news half as much as you watched your Asian dramas, you'd know this.'_

'_It was the series finale where Jennifer would have to pick between Ronald and Yusef. I couldn't just very well miss the most important episode of the series!'_

'_Every episode is the "most important episode of the series" to you.'_

Our conversation was cut short when Clark began to talk again, "Is everything alright with you and Oolalala?" I wanted to laugh but I kept it in; he was usually referred to as "The Caretaker" and the Kents rarely spoke with him.

"Urahara, and don't worry. It's nothing that will affect you." _'Hopefully.' _"Just some minor…family problems. It'll be worked out soon enough."

"I guess now wouldn't be a good time to tell you that you have to take an interview, huh?"

I looked at Clark; I guess he was too excited yesterday to mentioning all the benefits that he forgot about that **little** detail, "I thought you said I got the job."

"Yeah…well, it's standard procedure. You know, to make sure that we're not hiring spies or anything."

"Not that we think you are one!" I looked over to Kara, "Don't worry. You have nothing to worry about! Nothing whatsoever!"

'_Well when she says it like that…'_

'_Mi'Lady, ask who will be interviewing you.'_

"Hey Clark," He looked down, "Who's going to be interviewing me? Is it going to be you and Kara?"

"Well, not Kara, but I will be there to interview you. It's standard procedure to have every Founder present during the interview to check for anything that might be considered a "flaw". And Batman's a bit hard to get by…sorry. Because I told him about the robber incident, he's more suspicious about you than usual." If I were everything that I told Clark I was, I'd be home-free from Batman, but alas I was not. I would have to talk to Sebastian later about what we were going to do about him.

It didn't help that they had a mind-reader/empathic Martian, a man-weary princess (although this shouldn't apply to me directly, I did have boyish characteristics), and a former military man as well who used to date the "traitor".

I think that Clark and the happy-go-lucky speedster would be easier to bypass, and they were missing their 7th member—the Thanagarian—but that didn't mean that this was going to be easy; Clark has, somewhat, the most influence, but so does the Martian and the Bat.

I was going to have to think of a way to bypass those two; if I can do that, the others wouldn't be too much of a problem.

"Hey Max, when we get to the Watchtower, I'll introduce you to some of my friends! One of them's a Founder, so it might help you with the interview."

This was the break I was looking for, "Cool, which one?"

"The Green Lantern. G.L. said that after all the mistakes I did yesterday; he was going to train me so I wouldn't make any more major mistakes next time."

A teacher huh? Well that sure gives me feelings of nostalgia.

'_I'm happy for Kara, but he's not the one we need. It's a start though. Sebastian, are you ready? 'Cause I think we're almost at the transporting spot.'_

'_Yes, Lady Maximilienne. I have the memories all laid out and read to go.'_

'_Good, let's just hope they ask the right questions.'_

I just hoped things went smoothly; the fate of both existences depended on it.

* * *

xX- Watchtower | 7:13 AM –Xx

We arrived at the Watchtower via transporter, and was I ever whelmed. I've seen a lot of things in my life, but this, this takes the cake.

'_I'm going to have to _**fuckin' clean all this**_?'_

'_Lady Maximilienne, language. You don't want to turn into a brute again do you?'_

'_If Clark thinks this is funny…'_

"So, what do you think?" Clark looked down at me. I was just about to give him a piece of my mind, but I needed to keep my cool if I was to recruit all these people and gain their trust; I can't just go around hitting their leader—as if it would hurt him anyways.

"It's certainly…big."

"Don't worry; you'll have the entire day to clean it." His goofy smile made me question whether he knew about Child Labor Laws. Didn't these people follow the laws of the United States or something? This was inhumane. Now I wasn't human but still; even if I Shunpo-ed through the whole area, it would still take me hours to clean this whole place, let alone with human speed.

"And it will teach you the value of a dollar." He's treating me like a child! I know the value of a dollar; I lived in the 80th district of Zaraki!

I swore I was going to blow up on him if it weren't for Kara, "Hey look, there're the people I wanted you to meet."

I saw a wannabe Robin Hood, I only knew what it was because Sebastian made me watch one drama where a man dressed up as him for some holiday called Halloween, and an African-American male who I understood was one of the Founders—the Green Lantern.

"This is the Green Lantern, and this is the Green Arrow. Guys, this is Max."

"Nice to meet you kid." The Green Arrow tilted his head slightly in recognition.

"She's just a child," the Green Lantern looked down at me from his 6' glory, "The mop's gotta be at least two times taller than this kid. Are you sure this is the one Superman? Isn't she a bit too shor…"

Kara sped off to cover G.L.'s mouth while Clark was holding me back from pumbling the man to Timbuktu—if I knew where that was.

"She's a bit sensitive about her height John…so."

"Oh…um, sorry?"

I swear I just snapped, "Are you asking me or apologizing? Just because you're a fricken' giant doesn't mean that I'm short! I'm just vertically challenged!" I turned my head to the side as if to emphasize my point, but a lot of good that did; I just ended up looking like more of a child than necessary.

Instead of him arguing back, as was usually the case within Squad 11 (unless they feared me), he just laughed, "You got spunk kid. I'll give you that."

He then ruffled my hair; I was so close to biting his hand off.

'_Call me short will he?'_

'_Mi'Lady, are you forgetting about the mission?'_

'…' I hated Sebastian right now.

Clark swung me onto his back, and he and G.L. began walking to the interrogation room. It was almost as proof-ed up as the Founder's Room, but no one was allowed in there except for the Founders, no exceptions (though I'm sure there have been a few in the past and there will be a few in the future; there's no exceptions in this world).

"We'll see you later Ollie, Kara. Gotta get little Miss Tiny here to the interview."

"What was that?" I popped my head from behind Clark and glared at him.

"Ha ha, good luck kid." Green Arrow, or Ollie, whatever his name may be, smiled and ruffled my hair as well. I swear I was going to hurt him, but he gave off that 'big brother' aura that Urahara gave off…or little brother if you want to get technical, so I might just put off hurting him…just a little. I smiled, but just a bit. Part of his aura also radiated something similar to Kaien's, without the roughness. If his aura felt like theirs, then he was definitely a good person.

It took about 15 minutes to walk from the teleporter to the interview/interrogation room, and all the while, the Green Lantern took it upon himself to strike up a conversation with me.

He wasn't that bad of a guy, but he gave off the strict military aura that Kuchiki Ginrei often gave off…or Kensei. Yeah, more like Kensei; it was the 'I don't take shit from no one, but I'm not a total asshole' vibe.

After about 15 minutes, we hit it off pretty well. First impressions are important, but they're not everything.

Clark eventually got into the conversation, and we were having such a good time that I forgot that the main reason why I was here was to gain their trust; I don't think I needed to try very hard, because these people were very easy to get along with. If the situation wasn't so dire, I'd probably take my time getting to know them, but it was, so I had to, for lack of better phrases, rush the relationships.

"And then we fell into the manhole. Sebastian will never forget that for as long as he lives." The three of us began laughing. I've told everyone that Sebastian was an old friend of mine that grew up with me. It wasn't a lie, they just didn't know he was a sword/watch. Whenever anyone asked where he was, I told them that he was staying with Kisuke.

'_It was so not funny! We reeked for weeks! Look Mi'Lady, We were finally there. It is the moment of truth, the hour of our demise, the…'_

'_Sebastian! Shut up, I'm not blind. You make it sound like I'm going off to war.'_

'_For lack of better phrases you are Mi'Lady.'_

'_Sebastian.'_

'_Sorry Mi'Lady.'_

Clark, with me still on his back, and G.L. walked in to be welcomed with four of the other Founders: Wonder Woman, the Flash, the Martian Manhunter, and the worst of the bunch…Batman.

Clark set me down and we all began to take our seats. Clark's was the one in the direct middle; right in front of me. To his right was Batman, then the Green Lantern; to his left were Wonder Woman, then the Martian Manhunter, and then the Flash. The only one missing was Hawkgirl, for obvious reasons, who I believed was to sit next to the Green Lantern.

"We are here today to interview Maximilienne Zaraki for the position of a janitor. All those who oppose due to prior incidents please speak now." Damn, Clark was making this sound like a court case. All I wanted was a job as a janitor.

"Alright then. We're going to ask you a series of questions and answer them as truthfully as you can. J'onn here will check to see if you are lying, and the other Founders will be checking to see if there are any issues that they have with your answers." It was like Clark's personality just did a 180, but my guess was, after the Thanagarian invasion, everyone was on the edge. Clark was their leader, so he had to at least have some form of professionalism. What was the saying? "Leave personal businesses at home and public businesses at work?" Something like that; I've only seen Clark's home side, never his work side—except for the time with the robbers, but that doesn't count.

From this point on, I refused to speak with Sebastian in case J'onn would hear. I told him before hand to feed him memories that were the closest that we could get to my answers without revealing anything important. Completely blocking my memories would have the opposite effect and make them more suspicious of me than they probably already were.

"So how old are you Ms. Zaraki?" What the…? I couldn't answer a question like that, it was illegal under the law to ask such a question; I knew this from my research about interviews when I was looking for job interviews in the classified section; questions about age, religion, race/ethnicity, height, and weight were illegal questions because they are seen as discriminatory under United States law. I was under the impression that the Justice League operated under the laws of the U.S. because most of their heroes were from that part of the world.

I stayed silent as Clark cleared his throat, "Well then, how tall are you and how much do you weigh?" I remained silent, "What's your race/ethnicity?" I still refused to say anything, "Religion?" The Boy Scout was just breaking all the rules wasn't he?

If the situation weren't so serious I'd probably laugh at the situation—a man who fought for justice purposefully asking illegal questions—but unfortunately it was. To get around such questions, interviewers were suppose to ask, "Are you strong enough for this job, or will your height or such hinder your work." or "Are you over 18, and can you show legal proof of this?" or "Will you be able to work on weekends?" because some people may have to go to Church on Sundays.

"Are you planning on answering anytime before New Year's kid?" The Flash looked at me smiling; he didn't have a menacing face or tone, he was just asking out of good humor I guess.

"My apologies, but I'm unable to answer these questions."

"Because you don't know?" Clark was the one who spoke up. He knew my situation, and my guess was that he thought that that was why I didn't know.

"No, because these questions are illegal. I was under the impression that questions such as these were prohibited under the United States law, because they are considered discriminatory and unethical." Now I came off as a smart-ass, but hey, better than coming off as an ignorant showoff.

Batman was the one to speak up this time, "That is normally the case, but in light of the fact that there are enemies of ours that are able to impersonate members of our staff; we must know the more personal details about our employees to prevent the possibility of us not being able to identify a doppelganger under unforeseen circumstances." I hated his 'duh' tone. So much for not coming off as an ignorant showoff.

I just nodded. It wouldn't be wise in the slightest to blow up in Batman's face of all people. I believed that Batman had more of an influence in the Justice League than Superman himself, "Due to my abandonment as a child, my exact age is unknown. I can, however, remember at least 15 years of my life and I was found as a child of 2 or 3 years old by my caretaker, Kisuke Urahara, some time ago. I am 4'5" and 63 lbs exactly, no more no less, and I am led to believe that this height is either due to genetics or a result of malnutrition. I am pure Japanese and I have no religious affiliations." In truth I believed in all religions because I knew that, depending on where you went, they were all true; there was a Heaven for every religion.

I switched myself into "Lieutenant/Sensei" mode. These people obviously weren't going to take me seriously if I didn't act accordingly.

The interview went smoothly for the most part. I could feel J'onn poking and prodding at my mind, but Sebastian, from what I could tell, was doing a pretty good job because J'onn had yet to point anything out that might have flawed my answers.

When they asked me for my work experience, I immediately replied using the Urahara Shoten. I lived there for about 10 years and I did most of the cleaning; Urahara was in charge of the selling of the candy stuff (at the time it really was a candy store, it didn't become a "Shinigami Store" until about 50 years ago when the Soul Society stopped caring about its exiles), Yoruichi didn't arrive until about 5 years in and she and Urahara focused on building a duplicate underground training area like the one under the Sogyoku Hill in the Soul Society, and Tessai was in charge of the cooking (Thank god I wasn't; I probably could've used my cooking as a lethal weapon).

I gave them Urahara's number both for a reference and for safety measures should (and when) something happened to me.

They asked me why I wanted the job and I gave them the same crappy reason that I gave Superman; I wanted to be independent from my caretaker and all that other good stuff. Given that I "graduated High School" I didn't need a work permit; however, I could tell that some of them couldn't believe that I had.

Then they asked me where I was during the Thanagarian invasion. I'll be perfectly honest, I don't really remember too much about it. I think it was around that time when I began trying to find a way to get into the other Heavens unnoticed; about 2 years ago, which is amazing if you think about it—the Justice League was able to recruit all these heroes and build hundreds of Javelins **and** a bigger and better Watchtower within this time period. Usually you would need to get a warrant to visit a Heaven that you weren't from, but I think it was around the time of the invasion that I was talking to Urahara about the possibility of creating a new gateway for me or something like that; I wasn't too interested in a Human World invasion when I was planning an Otherworld visit.

I'm glad that the Justice League won, but at the time, I didn't really see a need for human help when there was the possibility that I could get the help of Angels, Demi-gods, etc. Now, of course, I realize that I can't even find them let alone ask for their help. If anything, the other spiritual entities need **my** help.

They asked me if I knew anyone from the League prior to my interview, and I pointed out just the Kent family. I mean I knew G.A. and G.L., but not all too well. I mean, I just met them, so I don't think it counts.

They asked a bunch of useless questions like that, but when they asked me if I had any special skills, I got a bit nervous.

Apparently Clark told Batman who told the League about my 'super strength'. For the moment, I was able to pass it off as pure adrenaline rush, but only the Flash seemed to believe it. I was forced to make up another story about how Urahara was a great martial artist and we both trained together and a bunch of halabaloo. It got everyone off my back, except for Batman and maybe J'onn. Why was it that the most essential people were the hardest people to get on my side? At least it made sense why they were the most essential people; why would gullible people be relied on for interrogations?

The interview/interrogation lasted for more than an hour, and when we were finally done, Clark told me that I got the job and I was to start right away.

"Due to the short notice and the limited lifespan of this job, you will be the only one working on it. Will you be able to handle it?" I looked at the Martian and nodded. Sensing that the mood had lightened I knew that I had to too, _'Time to put on the kid act again. God I'm sick of this.' _I smiled goofily. He seemed to smile back now that the atmosphere lost all former tension. A few of the other league members, minus a brooding bat, smiled as well.

"Just hope the mop doesn't squish you." I was about to pounce on the Flash, but Superman held me back. Some of the League members, especially the Green Lantern, laughed at the spectacle.

Hey I already got the job; I could afford to drop out of my Lieutenant/Sensei serious mode. Acting like my usual self wasn't going to win me brownie points with anyone here.

I could feel the Martian's mind pressure pull out of my head and I could hear Sebastian sigh with relief, _'Done Mi'Lady. That Martian is one powerful telekinetic. I don't think I could have kept him out if you wanted me to.'_

'_You were still able to give him the information that I told you to right?'_

'_Yes Mi'Lady.'_

'_Good. In time I'll tell them everything, but for now it's best that they remain ignorant.'_

I was told where my equipment would be, I was given the standard uniform that the all the non-hero League employees wore, and everyone began to fan out of the room. I was about to leave until I was pulled back by Batman, _**"I don't trust you one bit."**_

I looked towards him and grinned, _**"I know. For good reason too." **_That seemed to have surprised the emotionless bird-bat boy,_** "If you want to know the truth, and I mean the actual truth, you must swear to tell no one, and no one can hear our conversation."**_

Sebastian and I discussed Batman a few times in our head during the 15 minute walk here. We knew that he was the one person that we couldn't trick or lie to; if we wanted him on our side, he was going to have to know everything—or at least just enough.

Batman looked suspicious, but my guess was that he sensed the seriousness in my tone, so he nodded, _**"If it jeopardizes anyone…"**_

"_**It won't I swear."**_ I motioned him to sit down after he put a lockdown on the room. I was glad that this room was almost, if not just, as secure as the Founder's room.

Batman was a smart man, switching to Japanese and all. Everyone on the Watchtower spoke English, it was the universal language of the world, but not everyone spoke Japanese. Only about a handful of people on the Watchtower spoke it from what Clark told me, if that.

"_**Why are you so willing to tell me the truth?"**_

"_**For one reason, I need your trust above all others. And maybe Mr. Manhunter's as well, but that can be arranged simply with him reading your mind."**_

"_**Why wouldn't he read your mind to figure it out? If he hasn't already."**_

"_**He can, but you must understand that I know, by human standards, too much, and what I'm about to tell you is just enough information."**_

"_**So you aren't human." **_This boy, boy by my age standards anyways, was very observant. I'd have to be careful with my wording around him.

"_**No, I'm not, you must promise me that you won't tell anyone Wayne-san,"**_ I smiled a somewhat smug grin when I sensed the shock that coursed through his body. He made a move to speak, but I stopped him,_** "Don't worry Wayne-san; I won't tell anyone, but that's the price to know the information. Your secret for mine; just know that if you so much as breathe this to anyone that I deem unnecessary to know, I will tell the world your secret. Normally I don't try to blackmail people, but this situation isn't normal." **_Batman just nodded his head. He looked at me with analyzing eyes as if to determine if I was an enemy or a friend. Most likely he was thinking that I was the former.

"_**The information that I have given you and your teammates is somewhat the truth. I must ask that you refrain from asking questions until I am finished explaining, and there may be questions that I will refuse to answer and that reason will become apparent once I start."**_

Again he nodded his head. I was glad that Batman wasn't like Kara. I remember the day that I told Kara that I went to a prestigious school; she tried to get every bit of information about it and I that she could. I even told her that some things could jeopardize the school's security, but she just kept insisting that she wouldn't tell a soul.

Batman seemed to just accept it, I wasn't sure if it was because he was more mature, or that he just understood due to experience that there were just some things in this world that shouldn't be known by regular humans (like the future and such).

"_**First and foremost I would like to tell you that I'm not here to betray you or your friends. Quite the opposite actually. I am trying to get the help of you and your friends and to give my help to you as well. My name is Zaraki Maximilienne, a Shinigami and former Lieutenant of Squad 11. The Soul Society, which is considered one of the Heavens, and possibly the other Heavens, is in a war at this very moment. At this point, we don't need your help as it wouldn't do us any good, but I fear that your world will soon become involved. I was exiled from my world, but that doesn't mean that I don't still care for the people who live there. So I've taken it upon myself to come here to the World of the Living to look for help. Not that I had much of a choice of worlds, but you get the idea. There is a battle coming up in the Winter, and I know that my world will not win, at least not in the way that we wish; we want their leader dead and my world restored to what it once was."**_

_**"Why didn't you just ask us from the start?"**_

_**"Would any of you honestly believe me? Not only is my appearance inappropriate for relaying the situation, but you've just gotten yourselves out of a previous invasion caused by someone whom you've all known for years. I highly doubt that you'd believe me, a random stranger of a month, in these circumstances."**_

Batman just nodded his head. I doubt he could tell me that I was wrong, _**"Why do you need our help?"****  
**_

Normally I wouldn't do this, but I was desperate. I went down on my knees into a Dogeza, _**"Please Batman, we need your help. We need you on our side. If you're not going to help us, then just promise me you won't join the other side."**_

I wasn't sure if I saw sympathy in Batman's face, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. I was in the most degrading position that I could imagine, begging a man who I didn't know very well, all to get his help to save a world that I was exiled from.

'_Oh Lady Maximilienne.'_

'_Shunsui, Retsu, Jyuushiro, Gramps, Kukaku, there're all there Sebastian. I might not care about the rest of the Soul Society as much, but they're like family. Hell even Little Bya-Bya and Ganju.' _I guess the severity of the situation never occurred to me until now; if I didn't get the trust of the Justice League, and if what I believed would happen happened, that all the people I cared about would die.

The Soul Society might believe that they had a chance at defeating Aizen, but those who were present at the Hollowfication incident know that the Soul Society, no matter how powerful, just didn't have enough man-power. Yes the Living might not be able to help now, but Urahara can find a way, and even if he couldn't…well let's just hope that he can.

"_**We couldn't risk you referring back to the Thanagarian invasion and thinking that the Soul Society was trying to deceive yours. I can't tell you all the details about how death works, but I can tell you the necessary information about the dead. About Hollows, Arrancar, about how it will affect you…please."**_

I didn't like begging, hell I never begged. But I seriously needed his help, more than anyone else's; People questioned Superman, **no one** questioned Batman. I don't think that I've ever seriously thought about this before. I always thought I could go in, get their assistance, and we'd beat Aizen; badabing badabang, we go in and then we go out; how naive. I never seriously took into account what would happen should I fail; all the people I would be indirectly letting down.

Batman was unfazed by the fact that I was a Death God (Basically the Grim Reaper), after all he's seen in the past with Gods and Demons, Witches and Warlocks, a talking gorilla, the World of the Dead was just another thing to add to his list of 'don't ask don't tell' subjects.

"_**I believe that Aizen Sosuke may at some point attempt to take over both the dead and the living worlds. Assuming that he hasn't begun to try already. I will tell you all I know about the situation, but I need your trust. I need…no the Soul Society needs…"**_

"For now. You have my trust, for now." Batman switched to English so quickly that it caught me off guard and I almost didn't catch it.

"But if anything happens like the Thanagarian invasion…"

I smiled widely and sighed a big relief, "Don't worry! You can count on me."

I looked at his expectant eyes, "You might want to sit down for this. It's a long explanation."

I told Batman about everything (or nearly everything). I told him about my time as a Lieutenant, my relations with Aizen, the Soul Society and how it more or less functioned, the ranks, Central 46, Zanpaktous, Hollows, Hollow Ranks, the Hogyoku, and a few other things I deemed necessary for him to know, like how and why I was exiled.

After I finished, he sat firm in his chair and neither he nor I spoke a word.

'_Do you think you told him too much Mi'Lady?'_

'_Don't worry. It's not like I was exiled for a **good** reason.'_

'_He doesn't seem too bad of a man…bat thing, but he is on the side of Justice.'_

_'Which I'm praying will allow him to look at the **in**justice caused by Aizen.'\_

Batman closed his eyes and nodded his head, "Alright._"  
_

I smiled. That one word was all I needed to know that when the time came, he would have my back. I make to exit the room before turning around to tell him, "Thanks Batman, but don't tell Clark anything. Nothing at all; I want to be the one to tell him when the time is right." I turned back around to leave.

"Before you go…"

I looked back, "You said the war was in the winter, correct?"

I nodded my head, "That's in two months."

I smiled, "Yeah, which is why this was the perfect job. I'm around you heroes all day long so it won't be too hard to find a way to talk with you guys about the situation should the need arise, it's the perfect length in time for when I get let go, and Aizen won't be able to find me up here in space."

"I'm not talking about that," I looked at him, "you're fighting in the war, correct?"

"Not directly, I'm going to be doing some investigations on the other heavens while the Winter, I don't want to call it a war, more like Winter Battle is going on. But yes I might have to fight at some point, why?"

He didn't say anything and just walked out, "Hey! Why'd you ask?"

'_How rude, to walk away while you were talking to him.'_

'_Batman's a strange one, but he can be trusted. I've seen some of his work, he's not too bad. Yeah, I can trust him.' _I could feel Batman's reiatsu. It was very weak and it had the aura that told you that it wanted to have nothing to do with you, but it was warming in a way. It was sort of like Ryuken's aura, not Quincy like, but not a bad aura at all. It was the "I'm avoiding you to protect you" aura.

When I walked out the door I was in a relatively good mood…until I was greeted with a man dressed in a gaudy gold and blue outfit followed by a floating golden football with wings, "So you're the new janitor right? Totally just heard. Awesome! Name's Booster Gold. Look, some of the robots that were cleaning before you messed up my room. So do me a favor and clean it up would ya short stuff?"

"While you're at it could you get me a soda too? I'm in room E…well something. Sub Section Level-er...something. It's one of the Level section things with a Deck; I'm sure you could figure it out. I'm sure you're just tall enough to be able to read the labels on the door, and another thing…"

What did this man think I was, his personal secretary? **Short stuff**? How dare he call me that!

I was getting angrier by the millisecond. This man was worse than Senichi! True I made peace with Senichi a few hundred years ago, but this man is worse than when I first met Senichi! At least Senichi **was** a noble, this man just acted like one.

"Ummm, Sir? I don't think you should…"

"Ah don't worry Skeets this is her job right? So where was I? Right, hey tiny, I expect my bathroom to be…"

I was already angry from the Princess girl's kidnapping, I was angry because I had to get interviewed, I was angry that my mind was being poked and prodded at the entire time, and I was angry that I had to tell Batman more than he needed to know and I almost cried…sort of. Now this man had the nerve to tell **me** what to do? He wasn't my employer; the Founders were!

Needless to say I decked the man and he flew across the room, "**I'm. not. Short**!" His little robot thing, Skeets I believe, flew after him yelling, "Sir!"

"I'm vertically challenged! Whew, well that made me feel loads better."

'_Mi'Lady…I think you should turn around.'_

'_Huh? Why?' _Nonetheless I turned around to see a few members of the League that was passing by gawk at my show of violence.

"Umm, oops?"

I heard some guy dress like a cowboy whistle, "Woo Wee! Gal packs quite a punch."

"I dare say, that was an impressive display of strength from one so young." This was said by someone who was dressed in some sort of ancient armor (though I couldn't say much about ancient things), but his sword pulsated a sort of energy that I'd have to look into later.

"Finally someone put him in his place." I saw the Green Arrow walking towards me, "Kara said you had quite the adrenaline rush when you were called short, but I never knew it was this extreme. Remind me to never get on your bad side."

He started to laugh as well as a few other heroes. Some were laughing at Booster for being beaten by a (they refrained from calling me little) girl. My guess was that this Booster guy wasn't all that popular; they were congratulating me for hitting one of their fellow members. I just hoped I didn't kill the poor guy; I held back, but not enough for a regular human to survive. I hope his suit wasn't just for show like his mouth. From the sound of the people there, however, it didn't seem like I killed him.

Green Arrow pat my head, "You're alright kid. Want to go get something to eat?"

"I have to start cleaning; it's not my lunch break for about another hour or so." The League members went over my schedule, which I thought was ridiculous even if I wasn't really a kid. I was to work from 7 AM – 12 PM, and then I have my lunch. Then I would go back to working from 1 PM – 8 PM. After that then I could go home. Now for regular people like secretaries and such, the hours weren't bad at all. Now you're forgetting, I'm going to be cleaning for almost 12 hours **straight** with only an hour for lunch. I think Clark secretly wanted me dead.

Plus, didn't they all think I was a kid? Does no one know about Child Labor Laws?

I really didn't want to pass this up though; I figured that this was a chance to gain the trust of one of the League members, plus there was just something about the Green Arrow that just drew me to him. He just seemed so…familiar. He really did seem like Urahara and Kaien.

Green Arrow must have sensed my longing or something because he told me not too late after "Meet me in the staff room at 12 then. I'll wait up for you, 'kay?"

* * *

"**Yo Teach'! Once you're done with beating up your squad members, come to the 13th Squad Barracks. We'll have lunch together. I'll wait up for you, 'kay? If you're late, I'll kick your ass."**

A slightly younger me turned around to flick him off, **"As if you could Kaien!"**

* * *

Yeah, he really reminded me of Kaien. Minus the ass kicking.

I nodded my head as he smiled and went off.

"That was quite impressive little missy." I looked up to see the cowboy man again, seems like he didn't move from his spot. Neither did the armor guy.

"It truly was an amazing spectacle. I am the Shining Knight, may I know your identity Little One?"

"**Little?**" He didn't seem like a bad guy, but I was getting really tired of all the tiny jokes.

"Don't worry Lil' Lady. We're just jokin' with ya. Name's Vigilante, how do ya do?"

There he goes again with the little, but they didn't seem to be doing it out of spite like that Booster guy did, so I guess I could let it slide.

"My name's Maximilienne Zaraki."

"Woo wee, that'd be a mouthful." I laughed a bit at the Vigilante. He too had a nice aura.

"Max, just call me Max."

"We should, how do you children say it nowadays, hang out? It would be nice to get to know one of the staff members."

"I second that. Nice to have a friend that ain't a hero, right darlin'" My guess was that the other staff members were either intimidated by the heroes, or they felt that there was no need to befriend them. But I was neither intimidated, nor did I feel that there was no need, on the contrary there was every need.

I smiled and nodded at Vigilante and the Shining Knight, "Can't say I know too much about that."

We shared a small good-hearted laugh.

My first day here, and I was already making friends. I just hoped that all the other heroes will be as easy to 'convert' as this; if all I had to do was punch Booster Gold in the face, I'd make heroes faster than I could blow up a Kidō spell in my face.

A wave of nostalgia washed over me.

'_I'll protect these friends. I'll cherish them. I'll love them. Because I know what it's like to have friends be stripped away from you. I won't let Aizen hurt these people.'_

* * *

Sorry if it wasn't that well written. This chapter was actually supposed to be 4 times as long as this so I thought hey, why not just split it into 4 chapters?

Thanks to everyone who read this far I know that it was way too long and it wasn't very well written, but thank you anyways.

Please review and/or take the poll or anything that will give me feedback. I wasn't even going to start brainstorming for this chapter until the New Year, but I thought, hey, I'm getting loads of feedback, why the hell not just work on it.

Thank you all so much once again and I hope you enjoyed it.


	4. Lifetime Friends

_**Please Read Author's Note**_

_I want to first and foremost thank everyone who has read/reviewed/favorite-ed this story. Thank you very much and it is thanks to you that I've decided to update earlier than I planned to _

_I'm sorry that it has taken so long, but was I was both studying for or was in the middle of finals week, so didn't have the time to do anything on this story (not even brainstorm __ ). _

_Most base information from things like the Chinese Heavens was taken from Wikipedia, and information about the Justice League/Justice League Unlimited and Bleach were taken from their respectable Wikia sites. _

_**I used Google Translate for some foreign language uses so I'm sorry if the grammar or the words are a little off from their meanings **__** Sorry.**_

_**I'm still looking for a few Beta-reader, so if anyone is interested just contact me. I do thank 7 Winds for the offer and I'm still trying to figure out how to send it xD. It's difficult for me to find one using the search engine for the Beta-readers, because most Beta-readers have either Bleach or Jl/Jlu; I have yet to find one in the search engines that have both. **_

**I am considering making this an OC x _ slight romance (though it wouldn't be the major part of this series) so I was wondering about your opinions on it. If you guys are completely against the idea, tell me so I can change the genre. If you guys are completely for the idea, tell me who you want to pair together. Any and all suggestions will be taken into consideration; from Batman to the Shining Knight to even Robin. **_**(Champion of Justice has suggested a Green Arrow x OC, but I'm still looking for some other suggestions for just-in-case purposes. I love Green Arrow, but I also love the Green Arrow x Black Canary pairing.)**_

_I will be referring to Shinigami attire, weaponry, titles, and such in their Japanese names to prevent some confusion and to make it easier to understand. _

_There is a small section that is in pure Mandarin. I just wanted to try something out, and this will probably be the last time that I try to do something like this. _

_There will be tons of flashbacks in this particular chapter and I think it's my longest so far. Sorry, I was trying to cut it down but…I felt bad because I took so long to update._

_Also, the time frames in these may seem a little strange. Like how Ichigo is essentially in Hueco Mundo for two months, or how Shayera came back a week after the Initiation episode. I know its confusing, but I'm trying to make it work because both series move at different paces (Bleach's storyline is basically in a 6 month span from Episode 1 to the Winter War while JLU goes by years from just Season 1 to Season 2). I'm trying to make it work, so if you could just suspend disbelief for a little bit and just sort of role with it, I would very much appreciate it._

"_**This is Japanese"**_

"_Thoughts/Dreams"_

"English Speech"

_**

* * *

**_Friends

What is a friend to you? Someone who loves you? Someone who helps you? Someone who understands you?

What is a friend?

A good friend is someone who will help you; a great friend is someone who will love you; a true friend is someone who would die for you.

I have friends who have friends who have acquaintances who have friends that have friends and so forth.

But if your friend has a friend, does that make that friend your friend?

Funny isn't it? I'm not sure of the answer, but that's what I've been trying to accomplish with the Justice League; trying to make friends with the Justice League so that the Soul Society would be able to have them as friends. Or at least as allies.

I don't call just anyone my friend, but those that I do, I cherish for life…or death.

I would risk anything for them, I would give anything for them, and I would lose everything for them.

Because those whom I call my friends are not just my friends, but they're family.

xX – Watchtower | 2:00 AM – Xx

I jogged, or rather, shunpo-ed, down the streets of Seireitei, on my way to the Shiba Household; there had been reports earlier this week about a notorious turtle hollow that was in close proximity to the noble house, Duì-Qí, who recently escaped from one of the branches of the Chinese Heaven, Qì Tiān, the Heaven of Spirit where the lesser souls lived, similar to the Soul Society's Rukongai.

Duì-Qí was considered a low classed hollow, but he became notorious when he broke into Lǐ Tiān, the Heaven of Truth where their Chinese Shinigami (Sǐ-Shén) lived, a place that was as heavily guarded, if not more than, Seireitei; it was the Chinese version of the Soul Society's Seireitei. The Sǐ-Shén wore Han-fu, rather than Shihakushō , and their Soul Cutters were scrolls rather than swords that specialized in magic. Their scrolls release forms would grant them the ability to summon a spiritual being (usually an animal) that they would be able to command and control, while their version of the Bankai would grant them the ability to merge with their spiritual being and utilize its abilities to its fullest.

The Chinese Heaven, by far, was the most fascinating 'other' heaven for me, but it wasn't as if I had visited, or known much about, any other Heaven to say otherwise. Needless to say, after my exile, China was the first place I visited to look for help. Of course I'm sure you guys know how that turned out; there were no spiritual entities that I could exactly talk to gain access to their Heaven.

The only reason why I waited 90-ish years, despite having visited 40 some countries that were all void of hollows or spiritual 'warriors', before asking Kisuke to make a way for me to enter the other Heavens was because deep down I was hoping that they were probably all just on a coffee break…for 90 years…at the same time.

I didn't want to admit that there was something bigger going on, and, plus, at the time, meta-humans started to surface. It wasn't a large quantity of meta-humans like we have today, but it was enough for the suspicion to arise.

Fortunately, after 90 years, common sense took over. The meta-humans might have something to do with it, I haven't ruled out the possibility yet, but despite who might be behind it, I still had no way to get to the other Heavens; I couldn't wait too long, because you'll never know when Aizen'll strike.

'Lady Maximilienne, are you not absolutely excited to go on your first mission as a 4th seat?'

'It'll be the same as all the other missions that I had when I was a 9th seat officer.' I was promoted from a 9th seat to a 4th seat 10 years after I started training Yoruichi, Tessai, and Kisuke. I don't think the two events are related, but I just thought you'd like to know.

Yoruichi, Tessai, and Urahara were wonderful students, and I gave each of them the time and attention that they needed to get better; if I was going to teach them, I was going to do it right. Due to some stupid rules, they were not allowed to attend the Shinigami Academy, whose name was being changed to the Shinō Academy to allocate those from the Kidō Corps and those from the Onmitsukidō as well. I'm sure there are other groups, but those are the major ones that caused the academy's name to switch.

As excited as I should have been to be fighting a hollow from another Heaven, I wasn't. Before I got the call for the mission, I was about to prank Captain Kyōraku with a firework bomb that Kisuke made for me. It had a massive amount of paralyzing toxin in it; I was planning to paralyze Captain Kyōraku and draw on his face as payback for stealing some of the candy that Captain Ukitake gave me.

If a regular Shinigami were to do this, they'd get in trouble for attacking a high official officer, but I wasn't a regular Shinigami. Kyōraku, Ukitake, Yamamoto, and Unohana were the first people that I had ever considered as my family when I first became a Shinigami. We go way back, but that's a story for another time.

I was also going to blow up my Captain's office with a different firework that Kisuke made especially for the occasion; it had been exactly a year since my Captain took office.

Sometimes I think Old Man Yama was just being a killjoy.

When the Shiba household was in view, I slowed down to a walk; I wasn't exactly sure where Duì-Qí was; I just knew that Duì-Qí was around the Shiba family household; he didn't necessarily have to be **in** the household.

A scream suddnely ripped through the air.

'Mi'Lady!'

'Yeah!' I shunpo-ed as quickly as I could to the source of the sound.

When I arrived at the scene, the Shiba family courtyard, I was greeted with several dead bodies, probably a few random guards, a few children, and my target, Duì-Qí the Turtle Hollow of Qì Tiān.

"好，好，好，現在究竟是誰做我們這裡？為什麼，這是一個小死神的認為她能帶我上。難道你不知道我是誰？我的名字是水碓齊。你會後悔穿越路徑和我的小死神!"

I looked at him, he looked at me, the children looked at him and then back at me, I then looked at a few of the dead guards, then I looked back at Duì-Qí, then Duì-Qí stared at the dead bodies, then I looked back at the dead guards, then back to the children who looked back at Duì-Qí, who looked back at me, and then I finally looked back at him, "What?"

Hollows might have had a universal language amongst themselves, but when speaking to other spiritual entities; their languages reverted back to their language of origin. In Duì-Qí's case, it was Chinese. Now I don't know about you, but I don't speak Mandarin or Cantonese or Taiwanese or Chaozhou or whatever the hell Chinese this hollow is speaking. It all just went right over my head.

He started to yell a bunch of mumbo-jumbo in which ever Chinese he was speaking in even faster than he originally spoke. Why is it that whenever you tell someone you don't understand, they speak louder and faster? I wasn't hard of hearing, and if I didn't understand it the first time at regular speed, what makes you think I would understand it if you said it twice as fast? Logic people, use it.

I wasn't paying too much attention to him, though I was still on guard; I was more focused on the children in the corner; there was a boy that looked like a 14 year old human, a girl that looked like a 12 year old human, and another boy that looked like a 1 year old toddler. The eldest two had the mark of the Shiba clan on their left arms, so I assumed these were the 'noble' children of the Shiba Clan. I wasn't sure about the toddler, but I think it was safe to bet that he was of the Shiba Clan as well.

The youngest boy was being held by the girl, while the eldest boy protectively held the both of them.

I looked around at the dead scattered bodies in the courtyard; looks like Duì-Qí wasn't as weak of a hollow as I thought; the guards for noble families weren't exactly a dime a dozen.

I figured at some point he realized that I wasn't listening to him and stretched out his long neck with his mouth wide open towards me; yelling some more, I think it was Mandarin, but I could have been wrong.

I shunpo-ed to the children, grabbed them and placed them on the ground opposite of Duì-Qí. I then proceeded to run in his direction, unsheathing Sebastian, "If I didn't understand you the first time, what makes you think I'll understand you now?"

I brought Sebastian down on Duì-Qí, but at that moment his ugly snapping turtle head quickly receded into his shell.

"Well that's convenient isn't it?"

Suddenly his head shot out from inside his shell and he lunged at me again. It felt that no matter how far I backed away, his head just kept coming at me, until he finally pulled it back when his neck stretched well over half his body length.

He began to move towards me, but it was at a rather slow pace, "So he compensates his lack of speed with a torpedo head. Wonderful."

My attention suddenly snapped back towards the children when I heard the youngest of the children being to cry.

"Ganju, shush. Please, stay quiet." The young girl began to try to coax the toddler to hush him, but it was too late, Duì-Qí's attention turned to them.

Duì-Qí's head launched towards them as the eldest boy jumped in front of his siblings in an attempt to protect them, "Idiot, move!"

I shunpo-ed as fast as I could to them, but Duì-Qí's head was faster. I resorted to hit the side of Duì-Qí's ever extending neck. His head shook to the side, but when he tried to move it back into its prior position he hit the eldest Shiba child and it knocked him across the courtyard and the remaining children screamed, "Big Brother!"

'The boy will be fine Mi'Lady, worry about the other two.'

I was able to get in front of the two children while Duì-Qí shook his head, trying to get his bearings, and I grabbed them; shunpo-ing back to their, who I believed to be, brother.

Duì-Qí's head came again with his mouth wide open, but I was able to block it with Sebastian, aiming to slice his head in half, but it didn't go exactly like I wanted it to.

"His skin's like fricken' steel!" I refrained from cussing in front of children.

'Mi'Lady, Poise! Posture! You're slouching!'

'Now isn't the best time Sebastian!'

'Well if you stood up straight, then the force of that blasted turtle wouldn't weigh so heavily on me, now would it?'

'Don't you think I'd stand up straight if I could?'

'Tsk, Tsk, it isn't very lady-like for one to yell…'

'I'm yelling in my **mind**! Plus I have every right to yell!'

'Mi'Lady, clearly…'

'Sebastian, just **shut. Up**!'

'Hmph.' with that Sebastian stopped talking. I looked over to check the status of the children that were currently behind me.

The youngest boy, Ganju, started to wail again, holding onto the eldest boy.

I was going to need help; Duì-Qí's skin was unbearably powerful and his shell is even stronger than that. The second Duì-Qí retreats into his shell, there's no way that I can get him until he comes back out, and even then I'm pretty helpless because his skin's extremely tough. I wasn't going to risk fighting him with Hakuda with children around; Hakuda required for me to be in close proximity to him, and I wasn't going to leave the children unattended after the last incident. I didn't have time to run to get help, and I had no way to send for…help.

'Wait! Why didn't I think of it before?' I felt the inside of my Shihakushō , "Yes!" But I wasn't going to risk that it couldn't break through his outside armor; I was going to force him to swallow it, for precautionary reasons; there was no protection of your innards in either hollow or Shinigami; one of the only things I learned book-wise from the Shingami Academy.

The only time Duì-Qí's mouth opened, from what I've seen, was when he struck. There was no way he'd open his mouth if he saw that I had a bomb in my hands, and I had to hold him back with two hands with Sebastian if he got too close; Duì-Qí's strength was immense; I simply had no extra hands.

The younger girl turned to me; we were about the same height (sad isn't it?), "What is it Shinigami?"

"I have a plan, but I'm going to need to bait him into opening his mouth." I looked at the girl, "Think you'd be up for helping?"

I looked at her brothers as she did, they wouldn't be much help; Ganju was too young to even understand the situation fully, and the eldest one looked like he was fighting to just stay awake.

She nodded her head, "What do I do?"

There was no way that an untrained soul would be fast enough to outrun Duì-Qí's head if I, a trained Shinigami, couldn't. I looked around, 'Sebastian, do you have any ideas?'

'Oh, **now**, you want me to start talking.'

'Look I'm sorry, but now is not the time to be arguing.'

I could almost hear Sebastian sighing, 'Very well.' I could feel Sebastian thinking; I could almost imagine him brushing his tiny mustache with his fingers in concentration, 'Look Mi'Lady! The guard by your foot!'

I looked down to find that a man that I had completely overlooked. Falling out of his uniform was Hollow Bait. It was usually something that was used by the Quincy, but why this man had it, I didn't really care. It was probably a souvenir or something from fighting with some Quincy; there was a lot of tension between Quincy and Shinigami.

'Well that's rather convenient. Looks like the author couldn't figure anything else out.'

'What author?'

'Nothing, Sebastian.'

I picked it up and gave it to the little girl, "Here, hold this out in front of you with your arm extended," I took her right arm, because her left arm had the Shiba tattoo, and held it out straight, "and when I say **now** I want you to crush it in your hands. Got it?"

She nodded, "What will it do?"

"It will draw Duì-Qí's attention to you, and then I'll be able to slay him. Got it?"

"Wait! What if it doesn't work? That hollow's going to eat my arm off!"

I ruffled her hair, just because I looked like a child didn't mean I couldn't treat others like one, "Don't worry, if it bites off your arm, I'll owe you a new one. Okay?"

I chuckled a bit despite the situation. The child smiled and said in her rough voice, "Then…if it works, I'll owe you one! And that's a deal!"

I nodded, I moved a bit behind the girl, wrapped one of my arms around her waist, took the firework bomb out of my uniform, and held it right on top of the hand that had the bait, "Now!"

The girl crushed it in her hand, and like I thought, Duì-Qí lunged. Right before he could close his mouth on the girl's arm, I yanked her away, quickly threw the firework bomb inside Duì-Qí and quickly took out Sebastian and smacked his mouth shut with him. I then grabbed the other two children and shunpo-ed away to the top of one of the buildings.

Duì-Qí swallowed it without thinking and the firework went off in his stomach. It both hurt and paralyzed him, and, like I had wanted, his mouth had opened from the force of the firework blowing up inside of him.

'Wow, that thing sure works fast. I have to praise Kisuke for that someday.'

Normally I could have just used Sebastian's ability, but it takes a second to use a second, and I couldn't afford to lose that much time.

I turned to the kids, "Stay here, I'll be right back."

The girl was still looking at her arm; Duì-Qí had come really close to biting it off, but fortunately he didn't. Her youngest brother grabbed onto her, and her oldest brother finally sat up. I think the eldest one was alright; not even a bruise on his head. He was either very lucky, or very strong. I hoped it was the latter; if he got stronger, I could hopefully fight him in the future.

I quickly shunpo-ed to Duì-Qí, whose mouth was still open from the paralysis, and threw the other firework inside his mouth. I really felt bad about wasting such a good bomb; I wanted to blow up my Captain more than I wanted to blow this hollow up.

Duì-Qí blew up and his body parts dissipated. The guards of the Shiba household were also starting to dissipate as well into spirit particles.

'It's sad isn't it Sebastian?'

'What is Mi'Lady?'

'These men protected the Shiba children with their lives, and they won't even get a proper burial; I doubt anyone in Soul Society would even remember them. They'll be replaced soon enough with other guards and other spirits.'

'I suppose, but this is the life of a Shinigami, this is the life of the dead who will live again.'

'Yeah, I always hated Shinigami.'

'I know.'

'Shinigami, are so heartless. I just killed a hollow, a living breathing being. Sure he was evil in terms of Shinigami, but he was a creature, he ate humans to survive. Who are we Shinigami to proclaim what is good and what is evil? I just killed him in cold blood, and I feel nothing but joy. These guards are dead, and I feel nothing but disgust towards their weakness.'

'Life…goes on.'

With that I shunpo-ed to the children waiting on the roof top, and I brought them back down to the courtyard floor. Ganju was still behind the girl, and the eldest brother was standing up, well and healthy.

The eldest brother nodded towards me and proceeded to speak, "Thank you, Shinigami."

The girl just nodded her head, and she and Ganju started to walk away. Now, I was pissed.

I grabbed the oldest boy's head, he was about a half a foot taller than I was, "My name is Zaraki Maximilienne, **not** Shinigami. I just saved your life, the least you could do is tell me your name!"

Seriously, these kids had no manners. I thought noble kids were supposed to be all high on manners.

The boy looked a bit shocked; probably no one's ever yelled at him before, "M-My name's Shiba Kaien."

"My name's Shiba Kaien," I mocked, "When someone saves your ass you say, 'Hello! My name is insert name here! Thank you for saving us. I'm pleased to meet you.'"

"Now repeat!"

"H-Hello…My name is S-Shiba Kaien. Th-Thank you for saving us."

"**And?**"

"I-I'm pleased to meet you." I smiled and let go of his head patting it along the way, "Good. You're Okay Kaien." I gave him a thumbs up and smiled as he tried to fix his already messy hair.

"And what about you two; what are your names?"

The girl, probably sensing that my attitude would be the same towards her as her brother, said, "Hello. My name is Shiba K-Kukkaku. Thank you for s-saving us. Pleased to meet you."

"You learn fast kid." I smiled at her. It was probably weird for them to be treated like children from someone as small as I was, but after my display of strength out there, I doubt they wanted to mess with me.

I walked to the boy and crouched down (finally someone shorter than I was), "And I'm assuming you're Shiba Ganju, right?"

The little boy just nodded his head. I ruffled it, "Shy little thing isn't he? I'm sure he'll grow out of it and become a loudmouth someday." Little did I know just how true those words were.

"Kukkaku-sama! Kaien-sama! Ganju-sama!" I looked towards the voices to see two burly men running towards my direction.

They looked like twins, but one had a more square face and a clef in his chin, and he wore a white top, while the other one had a normal chin with a more thin face, and he wore a yellow top.

"Are you two alright?" The two said in-sync. I'd have to learn how to do that someday; it was just way too cool.

"Please don't run away like that again."

"You three could have run into a hollow. There have been reports of one around." Oh the white topped one had no idea.

"Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko, don't worry we're fine. The Shini…" Kaien saw my glare and decided to rephrase his words, "Zaraki-dono helped us out."

"Yeah, she killed the hollow that was just here." I looked at Kukkaku and patted her head smiling, "Couldn't have done it alone."

Just because I was prideful, didn't mean I had to be haughty. I give credit where credit is due, and sometimes I give credit where it isn't due because I don't want to get in trouble.

The two burly men, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko, bowed down, "Thank you Zaraki-dono. We are in your debt for saving the young masters!"

'Eccentric bunch aren't they?'

'They mean well Sebastian.'

I gave them a two finger salute, "Yo, so which one's which?"

"My name is Koganehiko!" The one with the white shirt said, and then he introduce the one with the yellow shirt, "And this is my brother Shiroganehiko!"

The two of the bowed down again, "It is an honor to me you Zaraki-dono."

I nodded again just slightly. I didn't like them using my surname, which wasn't really my surname just the place that I grew up in, so I decided to introduce myself, "My name is Zaraki Maximilienne, Fourth Seat of Squad 11. Just call me Max."

They bowed down again, such strange people these were, "We are honored to meet you Maximilienne-dono!"

"You could just call me Max; my full name's a mouthful."

"As you wish Maximilienne-dono!" Yeah…oh well. You can't win them all.

I was about to turn to leave, "Well, you kids take care. It was nice meeting you all."

I was a bit upset; I couldn't prank Captain Kyōraku anymore or hurt my Captain; I used up all my ammo.

"Wait, Max-dono. Would you join us for dinner? It's getting late, and it's the least that we could do for you." I looked to see Kaien urging me to come. I could see no harm; I had nothing better to do.

During dinner I met the Shiba family, and they were a loving, caring, kind lot. They weren't anything like the uptight Kuchiki household, or the ever discriminating Shihoin household. It was a nice atmosphere, and the Shiba family, especially the heads (Kaien, Kukkaku, and Ganju's parents), was really welcoming and grateful to me for saving their heirs.

The dinners were much more lively here, and the atmosphere wasn't tense just because they had a guest; unlike the Shihoin household. I loved my students, but I wasn't too fond of their family.

Kaien said that he now had a great interest in becoming a Shinigami like I was, to protect his family. His parents supported him all the way, which was a great difference from the Shihoin household; I had been rejected time and time again every time I tried to get my students into the academy.

I told Kaien's parents that I would be happy to help him, and thus was how I gained another student. Kaien was like an unripe fruit, and if anyone was going to fight him in his prime, I call dibs.

Kukkaku showed a great interest in fireworks after she saw what they did to the turtle hollow, so I decided that I would introduce her to Kisuke so that he could teach her to make some. Who knows, she might even be better at making them than he is someday; Kisuke was more into life-changing inventions than fireworks, and he only made them at my request.

I thought that if I was going to introduce Kukkaku to Kisuke, I might as well introduce Kaien and my other students to one another as well, since they will be training together.

I wasn't going to take Kukkaku up as my student; I wasn't good with fireworks, just Shinigami works, but she became a very valuable friend to me.

And that was how I lost my chance at pranking Captain Kyōraku with one of the greatest pranks ever, but how I gained my fourth student, and my friendship with the Shiba family.

* * *

I woke up and, not needing to look at the clock, knew that I still had 5 hours left before I needed to get ready for work. So I went back to bed, because I had nothing better to do, and I drifted into dreamland.

* * *

Senichi looked at me as the fight was about to start, "You couldn't beat me in a million years; you street rat."

Normally I'd be pissed, but it wasn't wise for me to lose my cool against Senichi of all people.

I just looked at him and said, "Bring it."

A gong rang signaling the start of the fight; where the gong came from I'll never know; it wasn't there before. Senichi made the first move and came at me; fists raised and ready for combat.

We were a great match; at least I believed that we were; Senichi wasn't holding back and neither was I.

Block for block, kick for kick, punch for punch; I can't remember how long its been since I've had this much fun fighting someone, and though this wasn't a friendly spar, both me and Senichi were grinning like man people.

Those who have never had a good challenge before wouldn't understand, but it was the adrenaline rush that you get when you don't know whether you will win or lose; that feeling you get when you're at the brink of defeat but you come back or vice versa.

I didn't have time to look up, but I knew my students, minus Kaien who was at a family gathering at the moment, were watching this match fairly closely, as well as the good chunk of the Onmitsukidō. I was sure that they knew what was at stake, which made my adrenaline rush skyrocket even higher.

But this was more than just a fight for my life and for my students' futures; this was a battle of pride. If I lost, I proved to the Onmitsukidō and Senichi that I wasn't fit to be a teacher of their future generation, or a Lieutenant of the Gotei 13, and if Senichi lost, he might lose the respect of the Onmitsukidō as well as a good chuck of the Soul Society; Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukidō beaten by a Lieutenant of the least prestigious Squad.

I doubt Senichi would have to worry about losing his honor or respect though; he was and amazing fighter; there were no openings in his attack or defense. I couldn't find an opening and any attempts to make an opening would probably leave me vulnerable to an attack.

If Senichi was any good at teaching, he could have taught Yoruichi everything that he knew (making her much stronger than I would ever be able to make her), but, alas, he was not. I wasn't sure if I should be happy about that or not.

His philosophy was "I'll tell you to win, but I won't tell you how. If you can't do it, then keep trying until you find a way." As great as kinesthetic learning was, it wasn't a very good idea to send a couple of inexperienced non-Shinigami children to fight some high leveled hollows when they've never even held a sword.

My dream was very blurry, probably because my memory of the actual fight wasn't as clear as it could have been; it happened 250 years ago. I remembered my feelings and a few moves here or there, but the fight was like a movie being fast-forwarded; you could see what was going on, but you missed all the little details and words. I felt like I was fighting purely on instinct alone; I didn't have enough time to think of my next move until another hit came from Senichi.

The one part that I did remember very well was the turning point of the match. I remembered it as if it happened yesterday. How could I not?

Senichi and I were quite tired, though not as many blows were exchanged, the power behind each attack was immense; Senichi and I added a lot of Spiritual Energy behind our attack for good measure. It wasn't so much that we were out of breath than our muscles were worn, torn, and aching. Just one clean hit was all it would take for either of us to win, but that was easier said than done.

Senichi's blows were much more powerful than mine were, but I was faster and more durable; it was easier for me to block or dodge, and I could take more hits than he could. Senichi, unfortunately, was very good with manipulating his Spiritual Energy; he was able to push his Spiritual Energy quickly to one area of his body to lessen the blow of my hits. In other words, we were at a stalemate.

The actual match had only gone on for about 5 minutes, but it felt like it dragged on for hours. Though I don't remember the match too well, there was one thing I remembered…well remembering. It was Senichi's fighting technique; Senichi will block any blows that come towards his body, but he will grab your arm if you aim directly for his face. This was a good technique, because blocking a hit that comes to your face obscures your vision, but Senichi grabs the arm and quickly pushes it to the side to deal a blow to the opponent's face.

The face, and the head itself, is the most vulnerable part of the body during a fight. It was the one place where most all your senses originate from; your eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. You take out the head in any creature and they're down for the count. How do you think Shinigami first figured out how to kill hollows by destroying their masks?

It was effective, but risky. It left you vulnerable for a split second; the second when one of your arms is occupied with holding the other arm. In a battle, a split second is all anyone really needs to turn the tides of the battle around.

Senichi and I were about 20 feet from one another when I Shunpo-ed towards him, extended my right arm as if I were going to hit his face, and, like I predicted, he grabbed it with his right arm. I turned my body 360 degrees and heard an audible crunching, snapping, popping noise as my arm popped clear out of its socket; I couldn't come at him on his left side because he'd be able to block it with his other arm; I'd be left defenseless. I ignored the pain and gave Senichi a hard kick to the head and he fell to the ground.

Senichi had fallen, and I lay on the ground in pain, but victorious.

What happened after I wasn't completely sure, but I knew that it was only thanks to the element of surprise that I was able to win; Senichi wasn't expecting me to sacrifice my arm for the match; uss Squad 11 members were as brutal as everyone claimed we were. Till this day, I believe that if Senichi had known ahead of time of my plan, I would have never been able to pull it off.

But what I had found out after the match, that I didn't expect to have happened, was that my arm didn't just pop out of its socket like I originally planned; when Senichi grabbed my arm, he applied a large amount of Spiritual Energy in his hand and shot it into my arm.

Senichi had planned to use my arm like a current and send the energy coursing through my body to knock me out for a quick victory (it was technically a Hakuda move; it wasn't an illegal move), but because I surprised him, it ended up becoming more like a bomb than a current; Senichi had sent a large amount of Spiritual Energy into my arm and when I popped my arm out of its socket, the current was slightly disturbed so it pulled back, but because there was currently a current running up my arm, the current running down my arm caused a collision that, when the two met, caused an explosion of sorts that ran throughout my arm.

In a short explanation, my right arm was completely useless to a point where Captain Unohana couldn't even fix it up; it was completely shattered to a point of no return. So it was amputated.

* * *

I woke up with a start and glanced at my alarm clock that was ringing off the hook. Unlike most people who threw their alarms, smashed it, clicked the snooze button, or turned off their alarm; I unreleased Sebastian and sliced the thing into tiny pieces; I wasn't in the most pleasant mood.

I looked down at my right arm.

When my arm got amputated because of my match with Senichi, Kukkaku had offered up her arm for me. She said something about our bet, or our deal, or something from way back when. I flat out refused and said that I wasn't completely useless just because I didn't have both my arms. There were, however, always going to be the threat that I might lose my rank due to this minor setback; I achieved my rank mostly because of my skills in Hakuda.

My students had told me that I risked everything for them, so they'll risk everything for me; body transplants were as socially acceptable back then as they are today. I still refused, but when four students, all worthy of being Shinigami, knock you out, drag you to a back room, and one of them performs surgery on you, there really wasn't much else I could have done; I bet you if I had two arms I could have taken them down, but that'd just be proving their point; I needed both my arms to function at 100%.

Kisuke was terrible with medicine, but he was a great surgeon (don't ask me how that works). Kukkaku had grown to be much taller than I was by the time I fought Senichi, so Kisuke made some minor adjustments, which would explain the scars where he made some **minor** adjustments; taking out some skin, shortening the arm a bit, etc. By the time Kisuke was done, aside from the scars here and there, the arm looked like it was genuinely mine. The scars weren't exactly something that was bizarre in Squad 11, but, unlike most members, I tried not to scar myself up too often.

Kukkaku had been the one to offer up her arm, not only because she said that she owed me, but also because she was the only one in the bunch that didn't have dreams to being something Shinigami-related. Her argument was, "I don't need two arms to blow shit up."

I was angry at Kukkaku, but I am forever grateful; I'll repay her someday, somehow. Even though, in all technicality, she was repaying me back for saving her, but whatever.

Yawning, I got out of bed and changed into my work clothes; re-releasing Sebastian and sticking him back in my pocket. It has been a month and a half since I started to work at the Watchtower, which means that I have a half a month left before it is time to mobilize.

Though space is basically like International Waters, where no laws apply, Green Lantern, along with a couple others, were getting worried about Child Labor Laws after my first week of working here. Which was strange because Child Labor Laws weren't universal…sorry global. Universal in the Justice League quite literally meant the entire universe.

My work time at the Watchtower, therefore, was broken into sections so that I wouldn't work for 12 hours a day; under the United States Child Labor Laws, it still baffles me why they would pick United States Laws over all other laws, but whatever, a minor can only work 8 hours a day on a non-school day.

Since I 'graduated' from school, everyday was a non-school day, so my schedule was broken accordingly: 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM, Hour Break, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM, Hour Break for Lunch, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Hour Break, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Hour Break, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM, then I get to go home. All in all, it added up to exactly 8 hours.

I wasn't exactly complaining; more break time means more 'hanging out' time with the other members of the League. It was exactly what I needed, and since Batman had made the schedule, I figured that's what he figured as well.

'_Lady Maximilienne, though I must praise you for your grace and poise, it was rather brutish of you to kill your poor alarm clock, was it not?'_

I really wasn't in the mood for Sebastian's scolding this early in the morning, _'It's not my fault, it's yours.'_

I then picked up my brown fedora and placed it on my head before walking to the door.

Before I reached the door, it opened to show Supergirl standing there in all her glory, "Hey Max, sorry about leaving you here last night."

"Naw, it's cool. It's not like I've never had a sleepover before; I'm a big girl." I stayed overnight at the Watchtower in Supergirl's room because Superman and Supergirl were both busy on a mission, and it wasn't like I could get to Ma and Pa's house from the teleporting site because it was too distance was too far. Or at least, to their knowledge I couldn't.

It wasn't my first time staying at the Watchtower overnight; I had stayed overnight at the Watchtower once before when the majority of the League was off fighting some kind of Alien Nanotechnology that was planning to destroy the world.

I will seriously never understand villains that try to destroy the world. What are you going to do once you accomplish it? Seems like whoever has the idea, doesn't think out their plans very well.

"I still feel bad though."

"Its fine, I was hanging out with Q." The Question and I got along pretty well. I usually cleaned out people's garbage and he rummages through them. He was a strange friend, but an ally nonetheless. He was the one that gave me my fedora.

* * *

"Hey Q!" I jumped on Q's back. He was a really nice guy, even if his theories made no sense to me. We hit it off a few days after I started my job; I found Q rummaging through Supergirl's trash.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking through Supergirl's trash to see if the Kryptonians may be directly connected to the electing of actors to governmental offices."

"O…kay? I don't think you'll find anything other than peanut butter sandwiches; it's what she has before bed."

I walked up to him, "So you go through Supergirl's trash in your free time?"

He just replied, "Please, I go through everyone's trash."

I just smiled and laughed a bit, "You're one strange fellow. You know I could report you for going through people's stuff."

"Once it hits the trash can it becomes fair game; public property."

I hopped on his back with my arms over one of his shoulders, "You're one strange fellow. My name's Max what's yours?"

He shrugged his shoulder, promptly pushing me off, "The Question."

"So I have to add a 'The' in the beginning or what?" He just continued to walk away.

"What a stiff."

He turned towards me, and I think he looked me in the eyes, but I couldn't tell because he had no face, "I don't trust you."

"Neither did Batman, but now we're acquaintances. Who knows, we might get along."

"Not likely. A Japanese child janitor with supposedly no past; you could be responsible for the invasion of nanotechnologies that control our girl scouts that have created the crop circles in the crop fields. A more likely theory is that you are somehow connected to the global satellites that monitor the brainwave activities of Boy Bands that are linked to the melting of the polar icecaps."

"I'm what for the what that makes what where?" I've heard of people having theories, but this man took them to the extreme. I understood him less than Duì-Qí, and this guy was speaking English.

"The point is I don't trust you. Something's not right with you, I can feel it."

"And what makes you say that?"

"You know more than you let on."

"And you don't?" I could see The Question twitch a bit, "It's…different. You're holding valuable information."

I sighed. I was tempted to retort with a, "And you're not?", but I held my tongue.

Getting The Question on my side was much more difficult than getting Batman, but not any less essential. The Question might have seemed like a nutcase on more than one occasion, and he probably was, but he was in the League because he's a better detective than even Batman (Bats told me himself). Unfortunately I have no idea what he's saying half the time. The point was, if there was ever an issue where I needed someone to help me investigate or find a link, this was the man for the job. Even if his links made relatively little sense.

I contemplated telling him; there seemed to be no other way to gain his trust. On one hand, I didn't think I could trust him with what I told Batman, but on the other hand, if he told anyone, who would believe him?

"_What if I tell you a little secret? Just a little__something_." I switched to Japanese. From what I've heard, The Question was one of the few besides Batman that knew Japanese. I knew the Green Arrow spoke it as well; he told him himself, but any others were free game. Some of them like Vig and the Shining Knight, I knew, didn't speak it, but there were over 100 heroes in this Watchtower; I couldn't possibly be completely sure about them all.

"_But we have to talk in your room. I don't want anyone overhearing."_

The Question just nodded. When we arrived at his room he promptly told me not to touch anything, especially his wall of conspiracy. He made an emphasis on the singularity of conspiracy. If I hadn't known Kurotsuchi Mayuri, this man would be on the top of my weirdo list.

"_Speak." _From there on out, our conversation was in Japanese, since his room wasn't proof-ed up like the interrogation room.

I began to tell him little details; unlike Batman, he tried to push for more, but stopped after realizing that I wasn't going to tell him anymore than I did. I only told him that I was dead and that I needed to recruit some members of the Justice League for an upcoming war that might affect the World of the Living. To do this, I was trying to gain their trust. I told him nothing else after that; much less information was given to him than Batman.

I seemed to gain some of his trust, but being who he was, The Question was still cautious. We switched back to English after I finished speaking, "Amazing." Was all he could muster.

I went up really close to him and grinned, "So do I have your trust?" I don't know why, but Q seemed like a really cool guy; it was friendship at first sight.

"A relative amount." I smiled; it was a start.

"When do you think you could give me more information on this Soul Society?"

"Who said I was going to?" I could see the Question's anticipation and angst; he was just itching to find out the forbidden; unlike Batman, but that's probably what made him the better detective.

I pat his head, "If you give me a fedora like this, I'll think about it." And I walked out of the room, "Brown's my favorite color."

I might have said it jokingly, but I guess Q didn't understand the sarcasm behind it, and he got me my own fedora. Of course he expected me to, how did he put it? "Keep your end of the deal."

I remember taking the fedora and saying, "I said I'll think about it." And I walked away before telling him, "Give me some time to trust you before you start milking me for information."

He snorted and walked away. Thus began our strange friendship. Of course I never gave him any more information, but since he stopped pushing for it, I guess he understood that there was only so much I could tell.

Back to the present-past. I was on Q's back; he had eventually stopped trying to shake me off of him a while back after I wouldn't stop. Who knows, he might have thought that getting on my good side was going to win him brownie-points with me.

Unlike with most conspiracies, I was his only source of information on the Soul Society, so I'm guessing that's why he kept me around. Well, as far as he knew I was his only source of information on the Soul Society, and I wasn't going to tell him otherwise.

"So how's it going with Huntress?"

"Don't be absurd. I've never even talked to her." Now I didn't believe in love at first sight, but I'll support it.

When Q told me that he liked Huntress I asked him why. He just told me to buzz off. That's gratitude for you.

Ever since he told me about Huntress, I've been talking to her more and more. I've been giving her hints to talk to Q, but of course I would never play matchmaker. That was more of what Sebastian liked to do; I just played along. I could feel that Huntress wouldn't fall for Q in the normal way; she was too tough of a woman. The only way Q could win her heart was if he saved her life.

I mentally sighed, 'It's always the life saving that wins over these young hearts. Oh god, I'm sounding like Sebastian.'

'I heard that Mi'Lady.'

I also found out that Huntress had issues with authority. She was my kind of woman. I smacked Sebastian before he had a chance to make a comment on that.

Because Kara and Clark weren't around, Q and I talked about his random conspiracies. Well, more like he talked and I listened. It was quite interesting to hear how back in the times of Ancient Egypt there was a cabal of powerful individuals that directed the course of human history and how the common man prefers to believe that they don't exist. Made less sense to me than Urahara's talk about the Hōgyoku, but at least Q was talking to me; if we weren't friends, at least we were acquaintances; it was a start.

The only one that I could think of that would probably know for sure would be Old Man Yamamoto, but he was old; he might have forgotten.

**

* * *

**"Oh come on, don't tell me you're still talking to him."

"Kara, he's nice. Besides, he helped you figure out that one dream you had about that clone person, Galatea."

"Still, he gives me the creeps." I sighed and shook my head slightly. No use getting in an argument this early in the morning.

Kara and I walked out of the room and into the hallway where I spotted Clark.

"Hey Supes!"

"Now who could that be?"

I smiled. I did the same thing with Clark that I did with Tessai the day he hit 6 feet. Only difference between Clark doing it and Tessai doing it was I attacked Tessai; I only whined to Clark.

"Supermaaaan!" I hugged his stomach. I was going to jump onto his shoulder, but that'd be too 'super'. Apparently humans don't jump that high; why did humans have to be so weak?

With my speed and my strength, I constantly walked on eggshells around the League. I had to make it seem like I was as weak as a human my size was suppose to be, but that was easier said than done; centuries of Shinigami strength and speed made all my minor instinctive actions much stronger than that of a human's; smacking someone on the shoulder, running to the bathroom, etc.

Clark just laughed and bent down, "Don't worry I know it's you. Here I made you a sandwich as an apology for abandoning you last night."

Clark handed me a half a sandwich that was cut diagonally down the middle, "Thanks Supes." I was always careful of the names that I used for any of the heroes while in the Watchtower; just because I knew their secret identities, didn't mean everyone else did.

"Hey Kara and I have to go on another mission again. Think you'll be fine on your own?"

"I do have a job you know."

"Oh yeah, that's right," Kara grabbed my arm, "Let's go get your supplies. I'll catch up with you Clark." But apparently heroes just randomly said out one another's identities and it appeared to be alright amongst them. I tried to stick to their superhero names for just-in-case purposes; I didn't want to slip up when I wasn't supposed to.

Kara and I went to get the supplies out of the supply closet. Most of the equipment was pretty high up, which was why Kara helped me get it. She did it for the first few days, and it eventually became an unbreakable routine.

Once I had my supplies, we waved our 'see you later-s' and I went straight to work.

The cleaning was never a big issue, but I did run into a lot of people.

The first couple of people I bumped into were the Green Arrow and the Black Canary. Green Arrow and I had talked a lot about archery; if you haven't already guessed, that was his main weapon choice.

* * *

It had been the start of my second week working here at Watchtower and I was on one of my breaks. I walked down the halls of the Watchtower on my way to the cafeteria when I spotted Green Arrow, "G.A.! Hey!"

G.A. turned around, "Hey kid," when I got closer he picked me up and put me on his shoulders, "How've you been?"

"I'm okay. So when do you think we can practice archery like you promised?" G.A. had promised me that he'd teach me a few archery skills.

"We can start this afternoon if you want. You know the basics right?"

"Yeah, an old friend of mine, Sōken Ishida, taught me a little bit a few years back. I trained a bit with his son, Ryūken." I had met Sōken Ishida about 25 years ago on my journey to England, which was where I learned English (though I later found English-English was different than American-English).

I was shocked to see Quincy after their supposed extinction from their massacre 175 years prior to that day.

Despite the fact that I was a Shinigami, I was well welcomed by Sōken, and indirectly welcomed by Ryūken who trusted, and went along with, his father's judgment.

Sōken had told me his great idea for a relationship between the Quincy and the Shinigami regarding responses to Hollow attacks: Quincy would be the first-response squad, protecting Humans from Hollows until the Shinigami arrived to dispatch the Hollow, thus maintaining the spiritual balance between the worlds that was being destroyed by the Quincy.

I was told that his proposal was denied time and time again, and he asked me if I could help him push the idea through, but I told him I was an exile; my words were less important than his were to the Soul Society.

Despite the hatred that had grown between the Quincy and Shinigami over the years, Sōken was nothing but kind towards me. I never met a Quincy prior to then, so I never really had an opinion on them; until I met Sōken and Ryūken.

It appeared that they were in England because Ryūken was currently on a scholarship there to learn to be a doctor (his father followed because he always wanted to visit England; now he had an excuse to). He was a brilliant child; going for a doctorate on a scholarship in England at the age of 17 was certainly not something I would be able to do. I couldn't go for a doctorate now in my current age.

Ryūken wasn't interested in being a Quincy, despite the fact that he had a knack for it. He said something along the lines of how being a Quincy didn't bring in any income. I couldn't argue with his assessment, but it was such a waste to see a talent like his not being used.

Sōken had taught me a few basics with a regular bow and arrow and I taught Ryūken and Sōken a few Hakuda techniques so that they could balance out their long ranged weapons with something of a closer range.

I believe I stayed in England the longest out of all the other nations, even China. I built a strong relationship with Sōken and Ryūken, and I think even little Ryūken developed a small crush (though he wasn't really little by human terms).

I stayed there for 12 years, almost forgetting my mission; I thought I found my place in the world with them, until the Ishidas had to leave back home for Japan. I couldn't go back to Japan due to the constant threat of being caught, plus I wasn't too keen on being so close to Shinigami. That was the last time I saw them, but I hope that, at least Ryūken, for Sōken is far too old, is alive and well.

The last time I heard from Ryūken was when I found out he had a son named Uryū; I didn't even know he got married.

"That's great. We start with the more advanced stuff, if you'd like."

"That'd be awesome!" I truly was excited; I didn't have any long-ranged techniques.

"Oh hey, I heard from Bats that you had a thing for a certain little birdy."

"Canary? Well I think she's pretty, but I haven't exactly talked to her."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Come on Ollie, how hard could it be?" G.A. had told me his 'secret identity' a while back. It wasn't hard to figure out; he had walked around mask-less when he finished taking a shower, and he was the only person that looked like the Green Arrow in Star City.

Sometimes I wondered why it took people so long to put two and two together, but hey, not everyone was able to sense Spiritual Energy like me. G.A. didn't have enough Spiritual Energy to even be able to remotely see spirits, but, like with all creatures, there was a minute amount.

"You just don't understand. I mean, you're a kid, romance isn't exactly something you would understand." Oh how wrong Ollie was. Do you honestly think that I would go centuries without having a relationship? Hell, I'm not about to be the 500-year old virgin, thank you very much.

"Then I'll talk to her for you." I quickly jumped off Ollie's back. I could hear him yelling wait, but I ran too fast for him to catch up. Not fast enough for him to suspect that I might be a 'meta-human', just enough for him to be slow enough not to be able to catch me.

I found Black Canary in the cafeteria, my intended destination, and I went up to her.

"Hi Ms. Canary!"

She turned towards me. Black Canary really was as pretty as Ollie said; a heart-shaped face with an hourglass figure, shapely legs, flowing blonde hair, and luscious red lips. I smacked Sebastian before he had a chance to even shift into his 'drama-obsessed' mode.

"Um, hi. You're the janitor, Maxine…right?"

"Maximilienne, but you can just call me Max." I grinned at her.

I heard Ollie running towards us and he lifted me up from under my arms, "I'm sorry if she bothered you Canary."

"Oh she wasn't bothering me at all. Green Arrow, right?"

This scene reminded me a lot of what happened with Kaien and Miyako.

"Hey Mikayo-san!"

"Huh? Oh! Lieutenant Zaraki," Miyako bowed, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Aw come on, none of that formality stuff." The one person I didn't mind not giving me any formalities is the one person that gives it to me. Such a strange world we live in.

"Just call me Max. Hey you know Kaien right?"

"Lieutenant Shiba, um, yes. Why?" She was blushing, it was absolutely adorable. Kaien told me about his little crush on Miyako, and I approved whole-heartedly.

I could hear Kaien rushing towards me and attempt to kick me away; I simply lifted my right arm and blocked his leg.

"Sensei-dono!" He sounded pissed, and I think I saw his face blush slightly; so cute. He turned towards Miyako, "I'm sorry if Sensei was bothering you."

"Oh no, she's not bothering me at all. I'm honored that a high ranked officer went out of their way to speak with me."

Miyako and Kaien. If that wasn't the picture perfect couple, then I don't know what is. I'm sad that they're gone, but if they were lucky, they'll end up together in the next life.

I looked at G.A. and Black Canary who were talking and laughing; I had enough. There was only so much nostalgia I could take in one day.

I lifted my leg and smacked G.A.'s chin with my heel, "Let me go!"

I really didn't like dangling in the air like a child, "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." I grinned and ran away as Black Canary looked a bit confused while Ollie looked more than flabbergasted. **

* * *

**

A few days after that, Black Canary introduced me to Ted Grant, otherwise known as Wildcat.

* * *

I finally had my break and was heading off to the training room to meet up with Wildcat. Black Canary had introduced the two of us a few days after I 'introduced' Black Canary to Green Arrow. She said that she thought it would be good for Ted to meet someone like me; young like Black Canary was when Ted first taught her how to fight.

I was glad to find that Wildcat and I had something in common; we both liked to fight using Hakuda. Of course he called it Hand-to-Hand Combat, but tomato, tomatoe right?

"Hey kiddo! You ready for your first lesson in fighting?" I nodded at Ted. I didn't need the lesson, but it sure was interesting to be on the other side of the teacher-student relationship.

I'll admit Ted was good, but only by human standards. If he were to go up against a Shinigami, especially one that specialized in Hakuda like Kensei, he would be down in a matter of seconds. But he wasn't shabby; if I could gain his trust through these…mediocre lessons, then so be it.

Besides, Ted was a cool guy. He had the same attitude that I had in fighting, "Fight and win fairly, and don't ever get cocky."

It sucked that I had to act like I didn't know how to fight and mess up on the simplest of moves. This really hurt my Squad 11 pride. If this was being terrible at Kidō or even Hohō, I wouldn't feel as bad because I wasn't all that great at it. But like I said before, my hate for Aizen out rivaled anything.

Ted was a bit…bitter throughout the lessons though. He kept making remarks about how he was glad that I was 'normal' and how I had no powers or anything. I could feel him practically radiating off bitterness towards the metas.

The feeling wasn't so negative where I felt that he would try to hurt any of them, but it was the feeling where you knew that he would go out of his way to prove himself.

I saw this attitude in a lot of my subordinates; they wouldn't go after you because they knew you were stronger, but they were jealous (because I was a female holding a high position in Squad 11) and they would go out of their way to prove it. Sometimes it would be as harmless as going out of their way to carry some extra luggage to try to out muscle me, but sometimes it was more dangerous. Sometimes their jealousy will manifest during a fight with a hollow. When that happens, it jeopardizes the whole mission and it can cost us a few lives.

Let's just hope that Ted's bitterness towards the meta-humans will be dissolved before he kills anyone, either intentionally or unintentionally. He seemed, I don't know, a little _too _into fighting. **

* * *

**

I trained with Ted every other day during my first break of the day. The other day on my first break was spent with Vigilante and Sir Justin. Vigilante, much to Batman's chagrin, taught me how to wield a gun. I doubt I would ever use one, but it was a good idea to learn. Needless to say, I wasn't very good at it.

Sir Justin was teaching me how to use a sword, though I already knew how. It was a bit awkward to turn off my reflexes whenever Sir Justin, as he put it, "have at thee." I made sure that I had a lot of openings in my offense and defense, and I was glad that Sir Justin used wooden swords instead of real ones. I don't know about anyone else, but getting sliced with a sword isn't exactly fun, even if it can't kill you.

Like with Wildcat, the ignorance that I faked put a great bruise on my pride, but like I said before, I hate Aizen more than I am prideful.

It wasn't as bad of a bruise on my pride because, I'll admit, Sir Justin was a great swordsman; I think he would be able to be on par with a regular Shinigami, assuming that they don't release their Zanpakutō.

My second break was usually spent with Shayera Hol. Otherwise known as Hawkgirl.

Shayera was a very nice person, and we shared a lot in common. More than she would ever know.

I remember the first day that I met Shayera. It was during my first week working here in the Watchtower.

* * *

I just arrived at the Watchtower and there seemed to have been something going.

I hear a lot of hussle and bussle around the Watchtower about how "The traitor came back last night." As well as other comments surrounding the subject. It appeared that after I finished working, there was a mission on some zombie named Grundy. Apparently a former league member, Shayera Hol, had assisted on the mission.

I heard about Shayera, otherwise known as Hawkgirl, but I didn't want to label her as the bad guy without hearing her part of the story; I knew what it was like to be labeled as a traitor, so I wanted to give her a fair shot. Plus, how bad could she be if she helped save a little girl and her mother?

I was on my way to the cafeteria; it was my lunch break, when I spotted her. She wasn't hard to miss; she had bird wings protruding from her back. They seemed almost angelic; oh the irony.

I walked up to her, "Hi! You're Hawkgirl, right?"

She looked up at me with eyes that reminded me of my own. It was the eyes of sorrow, regret, and the feeling of not belonging. I sat down next to her instead of going to get my food; I wasn't very hungry anyways.

"Shayera. I…I don't go by Hawkgirl anymore."

I looked at her and saw that she was looking down at the table. This slightly irked me, "Please look at me when we have a conversation. It's very rude."

She slowly looked up, a bit confused, and I guess a bit shocked that a 'child' was commanding her in such a way. Though it wasn't really a command; more like an obligatory request.

"So Miss Shayera, I heard that you were the cause of the Thanagarian invasion."

She looked even more saddened. I wasn't trying to make her feel worse, but I needed to evaluate her, I needed to know just who she was. I couldn't afford to have this one woman jeopardize my mission.

"Y-yeah. More or less."

"Tell me about it," I moved my chair closer to her, "Please?"

"I-I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on. Please?" I used my 'childish innocence'. It was a known fact that children speak what's on their mind with no ill intent. It was a known fact by a select few people that I was no child, but Shayera didn't have to know that.

She sighed and smiled, a bit sadly I might add, "Alright." She began to tell me the jist of it, but I was smart enough to ask questions.

I asked her about Hro, Green Lantern, the main reason for the mission, how she met the Justice League, and basically her life story. I wanted to know if I could trust her. I know that I'm being prejudice towards convicts, but could you blame me? If she could jeopardize the mission, then she jeopardizes the fate of humanity…alien…whatever!

After hearing her story, however, I saw her in a new light.

"So you were a Lieutenant? And now you're, more or less, exiled, right?"

"Yes." We had much more in common that she will ever know. We were both Lieutenants, both of us were exiled in one way or another, both of us were just doing what we thought was right, and both of us were just trying to find our place in the world after what happened.

I sort of felt bad now for doubting her.

"You know what, Shayera?" She looked at me, "What?"

"You're okay. I like you; let's be friends." Strange as it seemed, she accepted whole heartedly.

"But you know Shayera," she looked at me again, smiling a bit, I guess she was a bit relieved to see someone that didn't scorn her on first sight, even if it is the janitor, "I think I would have done things a little differently than you did."

Shayera looked surprised, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not saying that I'm not happy that you picked saving Earth rather than destroying it, but if I were you I think I would have picked Thanagar."

"I don't understand."

"If you think about it logically, before you came to Earth, you had a loving fiancé, you were the Lieutenant of an army, which is a pretty high position, you were fighting in a war that you were determined to win in for decades, and you had friends that you had to give up because you chose your friends on Earth. If I were you, I wouldn't be able to choose. So I thank you Shayera." I looked her in the eyes, "Thank you for making the right decision."

She looked down again before quickly looking up, probably worried that I would yell at her, "I probably killed my people; I probably cost them the war."

"Think about it this way Shayera. Your people had been fighting in the war with the Gordanians for years; so long that you've probably forgotten what started it. I'm calling this the right decision, because you saved the innocent; Earth had no place in the war; we were innocent bi-standers. Though they say all is fair in love and war, that doesn't make everything that happens right. Your people knew what to expect because they have been fighting the war for years; the people of Earth, did not."

Shayera just looked at me. A sort of wave of respect and understanding swirled between the two of us. I didn't even have to smack Sebastian to keep him from making a lesbian comment; I think he knew when not to ruin a good mood.

"You know Shayera. I once had a friend, Kaien Shiba. He was a good friend, kind, sweet, caring; I asked him a question one day when his parents died. I asked him, 'Kaien, if you could bring back your parents at the cost of some random stranger's life. Would you do it?' Do you know what he said?"

I looked at Shayera who silently shook her head, "Without any hesitation, he flat out refused. When I asked him why, he told me, "Because it isn't that random stranger's fault that my parents died. I would never take the life of the innocent to save anyone that was beyond saving."'

I turned to Shayera again smiling, "I can see some parts of him in you. I believe, like him, you and I will be great friends."

'_And I see some parts of me in you.'**

* * *

**_

Now every lunch that I have is with Shayera, unless she's on a mission. Despite the fact that I liked her, however, there was still a lot of negative sentiment towards her. It was understandable, but that didn't make it hurt her any less. The other people on the Watchtower were probably affected by the invasion much more than I was; I could barely even remember it.

Speaking of lunch, it was about time for my second break. I skipped out on my first break because Wildcat, Vigilante, and the Shining Knight were all on different missions. I found no point to stop cleaning; the sooner I finished the better. It turns out that the Watchtower wasn't as big as I had initially though. I mean it was big, but there really wasn't much to clean. Most of it was technology, so I couldn't clean it if I wanted to.

I made my way to the cafeteria, and like usual, I saw Shayera sitting at a farthest back table. I looked around. I think I'm the only staff member that actually eats here. I walked towards Shayera and waved at her, "Hey Shayera!"

She waved back a little. After a week or so of pep talk, Shayera reverted back to, what G.L. told me, "her old self". She was much more assertive and strong; she just seemed to radiate authority. She reminded me a bit of myself, which was probably why I was constantly drawn towards her, despite what others told me about her.

I went to grab a bit of food and moved to sit next to her, "So how's your day been." I began to dig into my food; I usually got more than everyone else. This was because the more spiritual energy someone has, the more spiritual particles they need to absorb to keep from passing out. Well here in space there was twice as less spiritual energy/particles than on Earth, so I, naturally, ate twice as much to keep from passing out.

My food usually consisted of overly sweet candies, overly spicy chicken, and lots of snacks of all sorts: bitter, crunchy, sour, etc. I hated salty, but any other flavor that was overly anything was fine by me.

"Still eating like a black hole I see. Besides, most of the food that you're eating isn't exactly healthy."

"Aww come on Shayera. I'm a growing girl."

"Let's just hope you don't grow the wrong way." We shared a small laugh and started to talk about random things.

"And then I fell into the manhole! Sebastian has never forgiven me for that." We both laughed whole-heartedly; it was a great feeling to just be able to cut loose.

The mood was really light and happy between Shayera and I, that was, until Wonder Woman showed up.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Wonder Woman; she reminded me of a much more assertive, but, unfortunately more judgmental, Retsu Unohana. She gave off the big sister/motherly vibe that was both comforting and frightening.

Diana hated Shayera and still blames her for the invasion.

I'm not saying that in all technicality it wasn't Shayera's fault, but she was just doing what she thought was right; I can't reprimand her for that. It was like blaming an executioner for executing a criminal that happens to be your best friend; they were just following orders.

"Max, may I speak with you for a moment?" I gulped down my juice before following her out.

'_Sebastian, did I do something wrong?'_

'_Not that I can think of Mi'Lady.'_

'_Good, because getting on Wonder Woman's bad side is like escaping from Re-chan's hospital when she says that you're not better; nothing short of suicide.'_

We eventually stopped walking and Diana turned towards me putting both hands on my shoulders, "Max, I don't like you hanging around her."

"Come on Diana, she's really nice…"

"She betrayed us. I don't want you hanging around her."

"With all due respect Miss Diana, both you and Miss Shayera are my employers, and though you both are my friends, you have no right to tell me who I can associate myself with."

I looked at her as she looked back. She sighed and crouched down to eye level, "I just don't want you to get hurt."

The two of us had built a relatively strong bond over the past month. She saw me as a little sister, I saw her as a mother that could turn undertaker at any moment. With all due respect, sometimes she made me wonder if she was on constant PMS.

I smiled at her, "Don't worry Diana. I'm a big girl, remember?"

She smiled back, gave me a hug, and ruffled my hair while she stood up straight, "Alright. I'll let you hang around her for now. Now run along."

I smiled back, ready to head back to my food, before stopping and turning around, "Hey Diana."

"Yes child?" I didn't get mad at her for calling me a child, for all I knew she might have been one of the few people who truly is older than I am.

"Could you…give Shayera a chance?"

Diana frowned a bit, "We'll see." And with that she walked away.

I sighed, walking back to the table, and I sat down next to Shayera, "So what was that about?"

"Oh, nothing." I could see Shayera look down; she probably already knew what the conversation was about; she knew that Diana didn't like her.

Afterwards Shayera and I just talked about random things; I think I connected with Shayera more because of her past, though she'd, hopefully, never know about mine. She was just so much easier to talk to than Kara.

It wasn't that Kara wasn't fun to talk to, but Kara was more, what's the word? Naïve, childish, immature, inexperienced? I didn't want to sound mean, but it was the difference between two 45 year olds conversing about business and a 30 year old entrepreneur talking to a 10 year old child about the laws of physics; there were just some things that I was able to openly speak with Shayera about that I wasn't able to with Kara.

Of course I couldn't tell Shayera anything 'dead' about me, but it was nice to talk about things like politics, beliefs, and other major issues. With Kara it was mostly about boys and the latest trends.

Shayera, like me, was once a soldier, so she was more inclined to talk about more news or pressing matters.

It was sad that the two didn't really get along. Kara didn't hate Shayera, but she didn't exactly like her either. Shayera was pretty much neutral towards Kara as well, but the difference was that Kara did her best to avoid Shayera while Shayera just went along with her daily routine. It was like a child wanting to avoid trouble and an adult just dealing with life and moving on.

Both of them were still some of the best friends that I had on the Watchtower, just in different aspects.

When my lunch break was over I bade goodbye to Shayera and was off again to go clean. It wasn't the most rewarding job, but it was necessary.

While I was cleaning I bumped into Green Lantern and Vixen. Vixen had pulled G.L. into a room to talk about "going out". It seems like G.L. hadn't been paying as much attention to her since Shayera came.

I didn't blame Shayera, nor did I blame Vixen for being jealous. Shayera wasn't coming onto G.L. now that he had a girlfriend, and you can't blame Vixen for being mad that her boyfriend was looking at another girl.

I blame G.L.; you don't date a girl if you love someone else. It was just morally wrong.

Just because I blamed G.L. didn't mean that we weren't good friends. I remember the first "bonding" time that we had together.

* * *

I was on my break and I decided to watch Kara and the Green Lantern train in the battle simulation room. Kara mostly did exercises while John told her what she messed up on and to try it again until she got it right.

I decided to get a closer look and walked down to greet them, "Hey John." I couldn't exactly greet Kara since she was busy fighting a simulated version of Volcana.

"Max? You shouldn't be down here, it's dangerous."

"Oh, calm down G.L. You're here to protect me, and you wouldn't put Kara in a situation that she couldn't control; I'm perfectly safe."

John didn't relax, but he dropped the subject; considering I made a valid point. I was analyzing the match between Volcana and Kara. Kara talked too much, sometimes monologuing, while Volcana had a pretty high opinion of her abilities.

Kara was knocked down by Volcana's fire because she got distracted with me and John talking.

"Hey could you two keep it down? Trying to concentrate here!"

"In a real disaster, our voices will seem like a murmur, even with your superhearing. You have to learn to concentrate despite that Kara."

I looked at John, ever the military man.

For the next few minutes, Kara made mistake after mistake after mistake, and John wasn't cutting the poor girl any slack. Though I could understand the importance of being tough on Kara, it was clear that this form of teaching wasn't working; John was just telling her what she was doing wrong, not how to fix it. It's the difference telling a student that they got a problem wrong on a test or teaching them how to do the problem that they got wrong.

After teaching a few students myself, I knew a thing or two about teaching strategies, "Hey John, what if I helped train Kara?"

"No offense kid, but what do you know about fighting?"

"Well Wildcat is teaching me a few moves here and there, and I used to fight with my caretaker. Come on, at least let me try. Kara's not going to learn anything this way."

John smiled, a bit too smugly for my liking, "Go for it kid."

I smirked; don't ever challenge me, because I'll take that challenge and shove it up you're a…

'_Lady Maximilienne! Language!'_

Fine I take the challenge and throw it back at you. Sebastian ruins all the fun. It's not like the author didn't change the rating from Teen to Mature. I shouted at Kara, "Hey Kara, come down here for a sec, will ya?"

Kara flew down, "What's up Max?"

"G.L. said that he'll let me train you, just for now. So how about I give you a few pointers?"

"Well…um. Sure, alright." Unlike G.L., Kara had seen me fight before; she knew I knew how to fight, but I guess it was a bit awkward considering she thought of me as her equal in age (maybe even slightly inferior).

"Okay, you see Volcana? Wait until the fire almost hits you, and then move. You have super speed, so you'll have no problems dodging. From what I've seen, Volcana's arrogance can be used to her downfall."

"I don't understand. I can take Volcana's fire head on." Kara was used to a more direct approach when fighting, and John never bothered to tell her that there was a difference between being direct and being just plain stupid.

"Just trust me, get to her back and knock her out. Quick and easy, don't talk don't gloat."

This was the problem with most of these heroes, they talked way too much. Some even end up monologing.

Supergirl followed my instructions to a tee, and, as expected, Volcana began to start talking, thinking that she got Supergirl, "You couldn't beat me in a hundred years kid."

"Wanna bet?" Supergirl came up from behind Volcana and completely destroyed her, well the robot anyways.

Needless to say, John was surprised, if not a bit impressed.

"See G.L. You can't teach by telling her what she did wrong. You have to teach by telling her how to fix it." I smiled and walked away.

From that day forward, I watched Kara's training sessions as much as I could. Once in a while John would ask me for some pointers to give to Kara. It wasn't ever anything too extreme, but I guess I gained his respect.

I gained enough of John's respect for him to introduce me to his current girlfriend, Vixen.

Vixen was a feisty woman, and I really liked her. We weren't best friends like Shayera and I, but we were good enough friends for her to invite me to a few of her fashion shoots. Her necklace, the Totem of Tantu pendant, was a fascinating piece of equipment; something I'm sure that Kisuke would love to study.**

* * *

**

It was about time for my next break. Boy time passed quickly when you were…cleaning the toilet. It wasn't as bad as it sounded, but like Sebastian said, it wasn't exactly a noble job.

The Flash zipped by me, giving me a quick ruffle of the hair, "Hey sorry squirt, I'd chat, but I have a mission."

I raised my hand in acknowledgement; I doubt he would have caught anything I would have said with his speed. The Flash was, by far, one of the fastest people I've ever met. Flash, however, wasn't exactly the best fighter, which meant that his speed wasn't used to its fullest. Of course, unlike Yoruichi, he wasn't trained to be an assassin. Which could be part of the reason why I thought he was a bad 'speed' fighter; I was used to Yoruichi's one-hit kill moves.

The Flash and I have a very good relationship; we have a brother-sisterly bond. I think The Flash and I got along the best in terms of just hanging out; we can do 'kid' stuff together; playing pranks, playing video games, etc. Whenever we have free time, and none of my other friends are available, I hang out with The Flash. I wasn't using him as a back up or a last resort, it was just that I just hung out with him; I was being taught by the others…sort of. I wasn't sure if it counted as being taught if you knew more than the teacher. Usually I was able to hang out with both Shayera and Flash; unlike Wonder Woman, the two got along.

I was actually planning on hanging out with him during this break, but I guess not.

Instead I decided to go up to the Control Room where J'onn was.

On the first day on the job, J'onn read Batman's mind the minute we walked out of the room; probably on Batman's command and my request. Gaining J'onn's trust wasn't as hard as gaining Q's or Batman's because of his mind reading abilities, but I was glad that he used it sparingly; J'onn never pried where he wasn't welcomed.

Now we meet up every once in a while for Oreo breaks. We were fairly close, mostly because we both had a huge sweet tooth.

I entered the Control Room to see J'onn overlooking some heroes on a few of the monitors.

"Hey J'onn!"

"Miss Max, hello." J'onn never called me small, and he's never referred to as a child before, because, unlike most, he knew better.

He took out Oreos from a small cabinet, "It was my turn to share the cookies, correct?"

I sat down on the chair next to him, "Yeah."

We talked about a few things: life on Earth, Mars, even my life back at the Soul Society. I felt that it was alright for me to talk with J'onn about the Soul Society; I trusted him, despite only knowing him for a short amount of time.

When it was time for my shift again, we said our farewells and we went back to our posts.

The last placed that I needed to clean up was Batman's monitor area; I always saved that place for last.

When I entered the area I was greeted with a giant glaring screen in a pitch black room, with a gloomy little bat sitting in front of it.

When I was sure that the door was closed I greeted him, "Hey Bats, how've you been?"

He just grunted; over the past month, I always interpreted that as either a "yes" or a "fine".

I started to clean the room. Unlike all the other places in the Watchtower that I cleaned, I cleaned this one particular room using Shunpo; there was nothing to hide from Batman.

Cleaning the room took less than a few seconds, and afterwards I went to make tea.

"Here you go." I set down a cup of tea next to Batman, like I did everyday since I've been working here.

Batman and I had a silent friendship and a mutual respect for one another. We usually never said anything more than what is needed to acknowledge the other's presence. Once in a while he would ask my opinion on a case he was working on or some issue or another that was itching at his mind.

Sometimes we talked about our lives, nothing too extreme, just a little event here or there. The most recent on he told me about was when he traveled to the past. He only told me this because I could feel a temporal disturbance around him; I was really sensitive to time because of Sebastian's ability.

"Thanks."

There was no conversation today, just a pleasant silence. I drank my tea until 8:00 PM came. I would have preferred sake, but Batman had something against drinking alcohol if it wasn't for a valid reason.

I got up and got ready to go home, "See you tomorrow Bats."

He grunted again as I walked out.

This was basically my day, everyday. I never really was sure what time zone the Watchtower ran on, but whatever time it was, it was the same as Sebastian, which was convenient enough for me to disregard that plot hole.

Urahara had been calling me everyday to keep me updated on Ichigo and his friend's status in Hueco Mundo, and what has been going on in preparations for the war. So far everything was going as smoothly as war could. A half a month was all that was left; two weeks.

xX- Watchtower | 4:26 PM –Xx

It was another 'relaxing' day of cleaning. I just finished a training session with Vigilante a few hours ago on how to use a gun, and about a half an hour ago I was training with the Shining Knight on using a sword. We had split the sessions today because Sir Justin was called on a separate mission. We usually did the lessons together because Vigilante and Sir Justin were basically two brother separated at birth; the three of us got along really well. It was like being with Kyōraku and Ukitake; great bro-mance.

I finally found the chance to ask Sir Justin about his sword today; I was still curious about the energy that radiated off of it. It turns out Sir Justin used a sword that was made from a wizard named Merlin. The strange energy I felt from it before was due to the magic that was used in making the sword; quite extraordinary if you ask me.

Sir Justin had seen my interest in his sword from the first day (though I haven't had the chance to ask him about the sword until now.), and he asked me if I wanted to learn how to use one (probably because so few heroes use swords, he was glad to find someone who was interested), so he's been 'teaching' me a thing or two.

I found it strange, but entertaining, that ever since I came to work at the Watchtower, there have been a few people that have been trying to teach me new things; Wildcat with Hakuda, Sir Justin with Zanjutsu, Green Arrow with archery, Vigilante with guns, etc.

It was all in all a pretty usual day for me. When I walked up to one of the windows to clean it, like I did everyday I saw something that took my breath away; I saw something that I had never seen before despite having cleaned the Watchtower windows for as long as I have.

It wasn't the awe-striking beauty of Earth; it was a swarm of live hollows coming towards the Watchtower, outside the window in empty space.

* * *

Sorry for taking so long to update. I thought I would compensate that with some extra typing.

Please review and take the poll. I do update sooner when I see that people are taking an interest; it's a motivation of sorts.

Thank you so much for reading

I apologize for Duì-Qí's speech. I tried to make it as accurate as I could. I wanted to make it "authentic", but I'm not so sure how well that went. I wanted to try it just once; I probably won't make other language speaking like that anymore. I just wanted to try it once to see how it would go, which is why I gave Duì-Qí only one distinctive speaking line.

I was trying to get him to say, "Well, Well, Well, Now just who do we have here? Why, it's a little Death God that thinks that she can take me on. Don't you know who I am? My name is Duì-Qí. You will regret crossing paths with me little Death God!"


	5. First Plan

_**Please Read Author's Note  
**_

**Check out JuniorFanficCritic who has reviewed the first chapter of this story on YouTube if you want to. **

_Hello everyone, I am sorry that I took so long to update, but I had a slight writer's block. To be honest I would have updated sooner, but I was lacking motivation. _

_I want to first and foremost thank everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted/etc., and to apologize once again for taking so long to update. I have decided that I will take out the Romance genre until further notice. _

_I do, truly, update much faster when I get more reviews and such, simply for the fact that I'm an attention whore __ and I like it when my work is read. _

_I wasn't planning on even starting to brainstorm for this until next month, and then have it out sometime in April. It was thanks to certain reviews (you know who you are) that I decided to update a bit earlier. _

_The delay was due to lack of motivation, writer's block, suspense, and just to mess with most of you guys__. I hope you enjoyed my sense of humor._

_I will be referring to Shinigami attire, weaponry, titles, and such in their Japanese names to prevent some confusion and to make it easier to understand. _

_As I've said before, the time frames in these are a little strange, because both series move at different paces (Bleach's storyline is basically in a 6 month span from Episode 1 to the Winter War while JLU goes by years from just Season 1 to Season 2). I'm trying to make it work, so if you could just suspend disbelief for a little bit and just sort of role with it, I would very much appreciate it._

_I know I will sound like an idiot, but I have recently figured out how to use the horizontal bars (I knew they existed, but it wasn't until the last chapter that I found out where they were); therefore __**flashbacks will no longer be bolded, but divided with the horizontal bar.**_

_Once again I would like to thank everyone who has been patient so far, and I thank everyone who has reviewed. It really kept me motivated to write knowing that there were people out there that actually cared whether I update or not. As long as there is one person that likes my story and will follow through with it as I write it, I will continue to write; however I may take longer, much longer._

_The Gateway is made up (I made it up). It is __**not**__ canon material from the actual anime._

"_**This is Japanese"**_

"_Thoughts/Dreams"_

"English Speech"

_**Important Note: This part was originally 20k words, so I have split the chapters. That may be why it appear not as complete as it should be. The finale to the Janitor Arc will be in a couple of chapters that will be updated almost simultaneously. **_

_**Important Note 2: I do not watch fillers, and I only use material from the Manga (unless the Anime episodes follow really close to the Manga where they only change a few lines). This is because Manga is canon material, and it is what the author intended it to be; it is the actual storyline. So if there are any filler episode characters or things that you want me to add, I will not add them. **_

* * *

A great lion once said that as we go through life we see that there is so much that we don't understand, and the only thing that we've come to know for certain is that things don't always go according to plan.

I never thought I'd see the day when I took philosophy lessons from a lion, but hey, I've done stranger things.

We spend our entire lives planning for things, thinking all the little details out, planning for the future, having back up plans, and yet, it can all still somehow blow up in your face. At some point you just have to say, "Fuck it." And move on with your life.

I've learned that you can have as many backup plans you want, but life seems to have a backup plan to mess up your backup plans. Was it fair? Of course it wasn't.

Did I plan to be betrayed by Aizen? No

Did I plan to run into Kara? No

Did I plan to end up living with the Kents? No

Did I plan to get hired as a janitor for the Justice League? No

Looking back, how much of what has happened was pure dumb luck? Everything

If I didn't run into Kara that one day, I'd still be out on the streets looking for a way to either contact the Justice League or, the more likely solution, seek help from Themyscira's Amazons.

I was glad that it was the former. I didn't have anything against the Amazon women, but there were times when they were too feminist. I have nothing wrong with equality and fighting for women's rights, but there was a limit on just how much you could fight for before it was just crossing the line and becoming sexist.

Another reason why I'm glad is that I really didn't feel like talking to Hades. Our last encounter didn't exactly end on a good note. Though Hades doesn't rule Hell, his Underworld gives off the "Hell" vibe.

I can tell you right now that I didn't plan for our meeting to end the way that it did, but, as I found out much later, Hades planned for it to go exactly the way it did.

Planning always seems to play favorites; Hades, Aizen, and just about any other villain has their plans work out to some extent, but the "good guys" always end up using their "Plan B".

And here I thought I'd be the one "good guy" to break the Plan B hero cliché.

* * *

I sat alone in my Lieutenant barracks finishing up some paperwork. Sometimes I wondered why I bothered to do any paperwork at all; the pile just never seemed to get any smaller. I have a theory that the more paperwork you do, the larger the stack becomes.

Sighing, I banged my head on the desk several times before resorting to just leaving my head on the surface. It was nearly midnight and the stress from the day's work was finally getting to me.

The door to my office quietly slid open, and a man walked into the room. As he entered the room, he gently shut the paper door behind him. I knew who this man was, even without looking up; there were few people who would come visit me this late at night.

I smiled a bit under my breath; it'd been a while since we've had some time alone together because of all the work that we've been getting lately. Sometimes he and I both wondered if it was really worth it to be Lieutenants, but I honestly don't think he minded the work as much as I did.

The man, who I called my lover, walked around my desk and stood behind my chair.

"Hello dear. How are you?" He started to massage my shoulders as I slowly sat upright. A shiver ran through my body as he softly kissed my neck in the process. His lips slowly trailed from my neck to my cheek and up to my lips where he gave me a soft peck before pulling away slightly.

His touch was so gentle; sometimes it pissed the living hell out of me; I liked it rough, being a Squad 11 member and all. I'm glad he wasn't this gentle in bed, or I would have dumped his ass…maybe. I mean he is a good kisser, but I digress.

"Mmm, I'm fine. How was your day?"

"Decent." He let go of me and smiled, "Do you need any help?"

I turned my chair around and looked up at him, which was rather difficult; even standing up he was almost a whole 2 feet taller than I was, "No, thanks. I'm almost done here." If that wasn't the greatest understatement in the world, I don't know what was. I looked down at my stack, and I was sure, without a doubt in my mind, that it would take me a good 7 hours to even come close to finishing it.

But I didn't want him to do anything; his day was hard enough. I heard about his mission to the Human World, and I'm sure that it took a lot out of him; he probably just returned.

Large work loads were different for me; I was about a good two centuries older than he was so I was used to the piles of work. If some of you are thinking in the back of your minds, "Ew, that's taking pedophile to another level." Then you've got some serious issues.

Age differences to a Shinigami are like a soup stain on your boss's tie; you can see it, but no one ever says anything due to either fear or respect. Besides, it was difficult to find anyone that was close to my age; they were either centuries too old or centuries too young.

I turned to look at him once more, "What're you doing here in the Squad 11 barracks?"

"I need a reason to see my girlfriend?" He smiled again, grinning with his eyes closed. He had a cute smile, I'll admit, but I'm not into the mushy love stuff where people melted at their feet because their lover smiled at them; I always felt that storylines pertaining to that were over-the-top clichés were unacceptable in the real world. Sebastian, however, felt the need to read up on every romance novel available out there, which usually resulted in my annoyance; because he lacked hands I had to turn the pages.

I smirked knowingly, "I guess not, but you know, you're awfully late—2 days; I don't like it when people are late."

"My apologies. I await my punishment." He leaned closer to me as his hand snaked around my waist.

I took a quick glance back at the pile of papers, and, despite my inner protests, I patted the side of his face and told him, "Maybe later, I have a lot of work to do."

I could have sworn I saw him pout, but it could have just been my mind playing tricks on me. I looked back down at my work; I wanted to get it finished before dawn broke, assuming that such a thing was possible.

I started to continue doing the paperwork until I heard my name being called, "Hey, Maxi-chan."

I looked up slightly, "Hmm? What is it?"

"Do you remember the day we got together?"

"Yeah," I looked straight at him and playfully stated, "I try to forget."

He chuckled a bit, "You know it's our anniversary tomorrow."

"Today."

"Hmm?"

"Just turned midnight," I leaned up a bit and pecked him on the lips. Pulling away with a sly grin on my face I said, "Happy anniversary. Now did you decide to come so that you'd get your **anniversary gift**? Looks like someone can't wait till I go home."

He matched my sly grin for his, and he straightened himself out. Walking closer he picked me up, and, instead of setting me on the couch like he usually would, he set me on the ground, standing up.

His next action was, by far, the greatest surprise that I ever received from another man. Well, at least at that time.

He knelt on the ground and he took out an infamous tiny black box; even then he was almost taller than I was, probably was, "Today is the 8th anniversary since we've been together. Zaraki Maximilienne, will you marry me?"

I smiled, tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. Now I said I wasn't into the mushy love junk, but I think at this point I had a right to act this way.

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him softly on his lips, "Of course I will Sōsuke. Of course I will."

Shinji's not going to be happy.

* * *

xX- Watchtower | 4:26 PM –Xx

I could not believe my eyes, not for a split second.

This was not unbelievable, no, this was impossible; hollows can not thrive in space. It defied all laws of physics (not that physics ever really played a part in the World of the Dead, but I'm sure you know what I mean).

'_Mi'Lady! It's…that's…ah…it's…!'_

'_I know; I'm not blind Sebastian. I can see. How is this possible?'_

'_I have a sneaking suspicion that Aizen's behind this.'_

'_Brilliant deduction Sherlock, and here I thought it was the tooth fairy.'_

'_Sarcasm is not becoming of a young lady.'_

'_And so is stupidity. Who else but Aizen would even attempt to do something like this?'_

'_Well, you don't have to be so rude about it.'_

'…'

'…'

'…_Sorry.' _Whenever Aizen was brought up, I felt this sudden bubble of anger inside of me just pop.

'_Apology accepted Mi'Lady; your anger is quite understandable. Now onto the bigger question: What are we going to do?'_

'_I don't know. How is this even possible? Hollows can't thrive in space; there's no spiritual energy, no spiritual particles, no spiritual anything.'_

'_It is bizarre to say the least. You, yourself, are only able to sustain your existence up here because of the other residents. Otherwise the lack of spiritual energy in the air would suffocate you. Theoretically, you'd implode.'_

It was a widely know fact amongst the dead that hollows, or any type of soul for that matter, can not survive without spiritual energy; it is our oxygen, our food, our source of energy. Without it, a soul could not stay in tact.

Spiritual energy is to a soul as duct tape is to a broken pipe; it allows us to continue to function and it keeps us from falling apart. And like duct tape it wears out and has to be replaced every now and then.

Spiritual energy is all that souls are really composed of; we are not composed of the human's scientific version of matter and flesh.

The only reason why I'm able to sustain my life up here is because of the other heroes that give off spiritual energy. It's definitely not enough to fuel me, because there's just enough spiritual energy in the air for me to breathe and sustain my soul; hence, why I eat so much food.

Now the big question was, how are these hollows roaming wild and free in open space? Both Earth and the Watchtower were too far from the hollows for any of them to really absorb even minute amounts of spiritual particles, so how were they moving? How were they "alive", for lack of better terms?

'_This is completely unheard of. Sebastian, have you ever seen anything like this before?'_

'_I've seen everything you've seen Mi'Lady. But all jokings aside, no, I have never seen anything like this in my life Mi'Lady. I guess seeing really is believing.'_

'_But space hollows? Even I find that hard to believe; despite all I've seen. Where could they have come from?'_

'_Probably the dead people from various other planets. Like your friends the Martian or the Kryptonians.'_

'_That's insane, there's no such thing as "dead-life" on other planets.'_

'_And we once thought that aliens didn't exist, and there are plenty of people who don't believe in the existence of ghosts. Just because you think that something is not there, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Being a Shinigami you should know, there's more to "life" than meets the eyes.'_

Sebastian had a point; just because we've never seen them before, didn't mean that they've never existed.

It's like when Columbus "discovered" the Native Americans; he didn't "discover" them, they've always existed. It just wasn't until Columbus landed there that the Eastern Hemisphere learned about them, recorded them, and made that claim.

Humans didn't "discover" aliens; they've always been there. It just wasn't until recently that their existence has become known to the people of Earth.

Still, the idea of space hollows was quite farfetched, but I am 100% sure that they are hollows. I might not have seen hollows in decades, but they're not exactly an entity that you would easily forget. Especially with my years of experience.

Two major indications set me off that they were hollows: the mask and the hollow hole. Unless you can find a creature that has both of those traits and isn't a hollow, I'm not going to second guess what these things are.

There is, however, one major problem; I can't sense anything coming from these hollows. I'm a terrible tracker of spiritual energy, but I was adept in sensing it.

Either my senses were out of control, or these hollows were made of something else. This day keeps getting stranger and stranger.

'_It's not just me right Sebastian?'_

'_No Mi'Lady, I can't sense any reminisces of spiritual energy from them either.'_

'_That makes no sense. Everything, from trees to the dying, has spiritual energy, no matter how minute.'_

This was not going according to plan, not even remotely close.

'_Perhaps Lady Maximilienne, we should contact Urahara-dono.'_

'_No time. Urahara-san's not going to be able to find a way onto the Watchtower, and if he did, our cover would be blown in less than a second. The only people we can ask are the Justice League members, but we can't exactly ask them for obvious reasons.' _

A few more weeks were all I needed until I could initiate my plans, but as life would have it, I'm not going to get my way.

This was definitely not going according to plan. I wasn't planning on introducing the League to hollows until after the initial battle of the Winter War. That or I could have just avoided the subject completely if it turned out that we didn't need the help of the Justice League after all. I never planned to ask the Justice League for help; I only sought out their help for precautionary reasons.

For clarification reasons, and to fill any lingering plot holes on the subject, I will explain to you why I believed that I needed the help of the Justice League.

As I'm sure most of you are aware, I haven't been seeing any types of angels, demons, Shinigami, etc., nor have I been seeing many hollows or wholes.

This being, Kisuke and I came to the conclusion that it was either the increase of meta-humans or Aizen's doing. We bet on the latter for obvious reasons.

If only Japan's Shinigami, hollow population, and ghost population was affected, then it would be easy to have the Soul Society investigate it; however, that is not the case.

Every nation that I've visited, and I've visited quite a ton, have all had the same lack in spiritual beings. The Soul Society has no jurisdiction in any nation besides their own, so to conduct an investigation would be perilous on two accounts: 1) it would be considered trespassing if nothing was wrong and the Soul Society "invaded", and 2) if the Soul Society did fill out the necessary paperwork, it would take anywhere between 1-3 years before the Soul Society gained a warrant to visit, let alone investigate; the large amounts of red tape was set there to ensure the safety of the Heavens from an invasion from other Heavens; 1-3 years in the World of the Dead wasn't very long, but the Winter War was to be held in few weeks; the Soul Society did not have the time to spare.

Now some people may be wondering how this has anything to do with the World of the Living (which is the whole reason as to why I've been looking for the Justice League's help) as, despite the mysterious disappearances of the ghosts and the hollows in the Living World, this seems like an issue that would be dealt with only in the World of the Dead.

This affects the World of the Living because of the way that spiritual beings cross between Heavens. There are four ways in which someone is able to enter a certain Heaven: The Gateway, the Living World, Hueco Mundo, and Hell.

The Gateway is the official passage way to get from one "Heaven" to the next. In order to gain a warrant to visit another Heaven and gain passage through the Gateway, there is a lot of red tape that goes on beforehand; paperwork, check ups, regulations, etc. The Gateway is usually used for visiting purposes, transfer purposes, or for Heavens to swap information through messengers. It is the method that is used the most to cross between Heavens, but it can not be used to enter a Heaven directly from the Living World.

To get to a Heaven from the Living World, Spiritual Beings have to open the respectable Heaven's Senkaimon (World Penetration Gate) and travel through the Dangai Precipice World through the use of the Heaven's respectable "Hell Butterfly". This method is used to ensure that invaders would have a much harder time invading the Heaven due to the Kōryū and the Kōtotsu. The former is used to prevent Hollows from passing through it, and it captures (and prevents the movement of) anyone that enters without the use of a "Hell Butterfly". The latter is commonly referred to as "The Janitor" that is used to "sweep" intruders out from the Precipice World; anyone that comes in contact with the Janitor is instantly caught in a time-space distortion that would eventually kill them (it throws their body into a temporal distortion in which their soul is unable to handle the rapid changes and the soul dies).

Hueco Mundo's way of entering a Heaven was usually through the use of a tear in space (very similar to the Arrancar's Garganta from what Kisuke told me), but most hollows aren't stupid enough to enter a Heaven from a Garganta (for the sake of saving words, I will dismiss being politically correct and use Garganta); it's like going into the lion's den with a pride full of hungry lions waiting for you inside. Not only is it risky, but it's near impossible for a hollow to make a Garganta large enough to get through to a Heaven.

Picture if you will: the Soul Society is a positively charged atom that is filled with great amounts of spiritual pressure; a Garganta is a positively charged atom that releases large amounts of spiritual pressure that is used in order to "tear space". If I learned anything from my "The Sciences of the Living World" class, it is that atoms that are charged with the same electrical currents repel one another.

Some people would assume that because Shinigami are "wholes" and Hollows are…well "hollows", they would have opposing charges of spiritual energy; this is not true, because both Shinigami and Hollows are composed of spiritual energy; only our "genetic" make ups are different (not too much unlike a lion and a tiger; same components are used to create both, but yet they are different species).

Usually only Hollows that are Gillian or higher are able to open one, and when they do, all of Soul Society is alerted because of the immense pressure that is created in doing so; this is method is definitely not advisable for tactics that require stealth.

Hell has the most "professional" way of entering a Heaven, as it has the most red tape. It can take anywhere between 40 to 100 years before a transfer is taken place between Hell and any Heaven. Residents of Hell, though it's more of a purgatory than anything else, are transferred to a Heaven on "good behavior". Afterwards, there are stacks, quite literally, of paperwork, health regulations to consider, memory erasure, figuring out the person's respectable Heaven, etc. Transferring of a soul from Hell to Heaven is rarely used because A) there is too much paperwork, and the overseers of Hell would rather just let the soul die and fill out a small form that allows them to be reborn some century odd years later, and B) beings that are sent to Hell are often the lowest of the low scumbags; they have no desire to change.

Still confused as to how this affects the World of the Living? I'll try to explain this to the best of my abilities; Kisuke and I are 99.99% certain that Aizen has something to do with the "sudden" disappearances of souls around the various Nations. Now, given that Aizen has something to do with this, we have to question "how"? From there we can assume two things: 1) Other Heavens have completely given up on all life and death and have vanished from the face of existence for no other reason than just because, or the more likely solution 2) Aizen entered the other Heavens and messed with something from the other Heavens.

Now assuming that Aizen entered the other Heavens, we then have to question: Which method did Aizen use?

The Gateway is out because A) it is impossible to open the gate from one side and 2) there is so much red tape that goes on before a soul is able to enter through the Gateway that, by then, most of the Soul Society would have known what you were planning on doing. It is impossible for Aizen to have an accomplice in another Heaven that would be able to open it from the other side because the Gateway can only be opened by the owner of "The Key". The only people that have the Key are the respectable "Gods" of the specific Heaven. From what I know about the Soul Society, after it gains approval, it is the Captain-Commander, who borrows the Key, and opens the Gateway. This Key has no relation to the Key that Aizen is trying to create from the Souls of Karakura town.

That leaves only Hell, Hueco Mundo, and the Living World.

Hell is automatically ruled out, because it can't be used to transport actual souls to and from places; it is not a place used to transport "good" souls to and from Heaven to Heaven.

Hueco Mundo would be out of the question as every tear in space is investigated thoroughly by every Heaven. It is a possible solution, as Aizen is now the ruler of Hueco Mundo, but it is very unlikely because, as I've stated earlier, of the exaggerated amounts of spiritual energy emitted whenever a tear does happen. It is possible that Aizen could have "invented" a way to avoid that little distraction, but the more likely case would be that Aizen used the only other possible way to enter a Heaven through process of elimination: the World of the Living.

This was the reason why I wanted the help of the Justice League, because the World of the Living has gotten involved, either directly or indirectly. It is rather easy to enter a Heaven from the World of the Living; just use the nation's respectable Soul Cutter to open a Senkaimon in the respectable area.

It wouldn't have been difficult for Aizen, especially because of Kyōka Suigetsu, to manipulate a single angel to open a pathway for him. From there it is as simple as getting through the Precipice World and into the Heaven.

If the World of the Living is being used by Aizen, then it's safe to say that the Living World will get involved.

Don't believe me? Just look at what the Soul Society's going to do to Karakura Town. Whether anyone believes it or not, the World of the Dead controls the World of the Living, but the Living World is not something to be owned by one person. That's why every nation is broken up into sections depending on the Heaven, so that there isn't a dictatorship.

That is the reason why souls never travel between the Living World. It is both far too complicated, and souls from neighboring nations are not welcome; they are killed on sight, and they have every right to under the No Trespassing Act of 1354. It was an agreement made by all the Gods of the Heavens that under no circumstances is a soul allowed to travel through the Living World in their soul form without a warrant.

I'm not violating the Act because I am in a gigai that conceals my spiritual energy; souls are allowed to visit other nations for "vacations", but to be in soul form, they run the risk of "contaminating" the spiritual pressure in the other nations and disrupting the balance. This is also why Gentei's, or Limits, are placed on modern Shinigami, and other types of Soul Reapers; to prevent history from repeating itself. Of course there are minor slip ups, like with Hurricane Katrina and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The Act allows any soul to kill another soul, or refuse to act upon preventing another soul's death, but only if that soul is foreign to the land. It is a rather extreme way that nations maintain their spiritual balance, but it is necessary to prevent chaos (plus our ancestors were more brutal in their punishments than we are in modern times).

Some argue that parts of the Act should be repealed, or a new Act should come that would have similar effects without such brutal punishments. These suggestions were turned down because in order for it to be repealed or replaced, all the Gods would have to come to a unanimous agreement on the terms of the new Act; it took nearly 500 years for them to come to an agreement on the No Trespassing Act.

Though punishment by death is seen, in the World of the Living, to be an unjust or controversial punishment, for the World of the Dead, it isn't something that is heatedly debated on. This is because souls know where they go when they die, and, for the most part, should know what they're getting themselves if they decide to break the law.

Plus, the punishment is justified by the possible outcomes of spiritual imbalances, and although one "bad spirit" isn't enough to cause an epidemic as great as Pompeii, the fear of history repeating itself caused the Gods to come to a unanimous agreement on the subject.

Before the Act was passed, souls ran rampant from nation to nation—Shinigami, ghosts, angels, and demons alike—because there were no "border" regulations. There was a great imbalance of spiritual pressure in the world (there would be too much pressure in one area, and a complete lack of pressure in another).

What people believe to be "Natural Disasters" is actually caused by the imbalances of spiritual energy (though some Natural Disasters are actually natural). Spiritual energy, in large supplements of it, causes the Earth to "overreact" as it were; plagues, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. Spiritual energy, in doses that are too small, does not cause any reactions in the Earth; crops don't grow, water stagnates, etc.

It's sort of like setting a pot filled with water over a stove; too much heat causes the water to over boil, while too little heat makes it so that nothing happens. There has to be a balance of spiritual energy.

The Act was passed after the widespread Black Death epidemic, otherwise known as the Bubonic Plague. The Gods realized that this epidemic was the last straw. The imbalance of spiritual pressure (at the time the concentration was in mostly in the European nations) caused this deathly plague to fall upon the people.

The spiritual imbalances caused genetic deformities that lead up to this event; all souls of anyone (living or dead) is attached to their genetic make up, which is why when a person dies, their spirit still looks like themselves. Once they die in Heaven, however, their genetic makeup is rewritten by the spiritual energy in the respectable Heaven before they are reborn so that a person with the same appearance is not born twice.

There are instances where the soul's genetic code is not rewritten enough, and in those instances one of two things could happen. The first is that either their appearance or their personalities can be very similar to one another. This happens every so often, and it isn't anything to be amazed about. The more "dangerous" outcome is when a person's life is similar to their previous life from their birth to their death. One instance of this was Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy from the United States Heaven.

This incident caused a huge uproar amongst the Heavens because a large amount of superstitious humans that arose from this incident. It's alright for people to believe in reincarnation, Heaven, and/or God, but for them to have "proof" of it is dangerous in and of itself.

Anyways, I digress.

I took Sebastian out of my pocket and looked at him, then back to the window, and back to Sebastian. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I planned to just finish up my few weeks, go investigate the other Heavens while the Winter War was going on, and hopefully end the war before it escalated so far that the Justice League would get involved.

That plan just went down the drain.

I believe that my guess about the Living World getting involved in the war was right, and if I go on from that theory, it seems that Aizen wanted to eliminate anyone that would pose a threat to him in the Living World (should he have something planned for it)—mainly saying, the Justice League.

Too bad he didn't plan that **I** was going to be on the Watchtower.

'_Or maybe he did and he's doing this to lure you out Mi'Lady.'_

'_I guess there's always that possibility too, huh? Let's pray it's not that.'_

'_What are we to do Mi'Lady? Judging from the speed of the hollows, they will be at the Watchtower at any minute. Assuming they don't go and attack Earth of course.'_

'_No, their goal is the Watchtower; none of them are making any moves to turn towards Earth.'_

'_Then wouldn't it help both us and the League to __**warn**__ them?'_

'_And just how do you propose I do that? Just stand up in front of everyone and yell out 'Hey, there's some dead monsters outside that are going to kill off all of you. You can't see them, but I can because I'm dead. Oh I didn't tell you that little bit? Well it's because I was deceiving you into thinking that I was a normal little girl so that you could trust me into helping me fight off a man with a God-complex.' Yeah, just how well do you think that'll blow over with the League, Sebastian? Not only would they no longer trust me, but they'd stick me in Arkham faster than you could say Shinigami.'_

'_Then go outside and take care of them.'_

'_Again, how am I supposed to do that? A) I don't have a spacesuit, and even if I did 2) what would be my excuse to go outside? And Q) they'll see me fighting air, actually, the mere fact that they'll see me fighting at all won't blow over well.'_

'_You could just make up an excuse Mi'Lady. Like you enjoyed the free space and you were trying things out. I've got it; you could tell them that you were cleaning the outside of the Watchtower.'_

'_No way in hell Sebastian. That has got to be the dumbest idea you've had so far. Unless you've forgotten, I can't breathe in space! I might be dead, but that doesn't mean I don't require oxygen.'_

'_I'm __**just**__ trying to help!'_

'_I know I know.' _I sighed and rubbed at my temples. I was often very ill-tempered with Sebastian when I was under stress, and this situation definitely wasn't helping. It was very true what they say, "All friends are victims", _'I'm sorry.'_

'_I forgive you Mi'Lady. So what do you propose we do? We have exactly 6.24 minutes left, judging from the current speed at which they are traveling at now. Maybe if you go outside you don't have to take them all out. Maybe you can find their commanding officer or someone that's controlling their actions; an army of hollows this big must have someone leading it.'_

'_Control, that's it Sebastian! You're a genius!'_

'_Why, thank you. Now assuming that there is someone controlling their actions, though I'm not sure if they do, how do we fi…'_

'_Not that. The Control Center! J'onn! I don't know if it'd be a good idea for him to tell the League though; the majority of them, or maybe even all of them, would be unable to even touch the hollows. Hollows and souls are only able to be attacked with anything that is lined with spiritual energy, like a Soul Cutter or even a stick that a person has that is concentrated with spiritual energy. I don't know if they can defend themselves even if they do know. It'd be better for them to remain ignorant as long as possible.'_

'_Mi'Lady, they don't have the luxury of remaining ignorant anymore. If you don't tell them, there won't be a League.'_

'_Good point. I just hope that J'onn can pass it off as some psychic thing in case they can't see the hollows. That way, I can save whatever sanity the League believes me to have.'_

The Control Center was on the opposite end of the Watchtower, so I'd have to hurry if I was going to get there without Shunpo.

Unfortunately for me, when I turned around, I came face to chest with the Flash, "Hey there kiddo."

'_Not good.'_

He bent down and pushed my hat down further on my head and lightly ruffled it, messing up my hair in the process, "Sorry about ditching you yesterday. How about we hang out now?"

I fixed my fedora while glancing worriedly back and forth between Flash and the hollows.

'_Remain calm Mi'Lady. Hurry, but don't look rushed. Remain level-headed and think this situation through.'_

'_Sebastian, stop treating me like a child. I know how to act. Now what to do, what to say?' _"It's cool Flash, but I have work to do right now so…"

"Aww come on Max," he swung his arm over my shoulders, "just for a few minutes." He pointed to himself, "Founding member remember?" He winked, "Your secret's safe."

Now normally I'd jump aboard any idea where I could get away with not cleaning, but this wasn't a normal situation. I was running out of time, and Flash really wasn't helping at the moment.

"That'd be cool Flash, but I just don't feel right just leaving my work like this."

'_Flash, I love you like a brother, but please just leave.'_

'_Mi'Lady.'_

'_We only have 4.36 minutes left, come on Flash.'_

"So we could just go to the bottom shaft and…"

'_Oh god, what was he talking about? Crap, come on Flash hurry up. Leave. If only I had a soul candy. Of course there wouldn't be any way to know if after all these years my soul could safely separate from this gigai. Especially because it's a specially made one. Come on Flash, __**leave**__.'_

'_Mi'Lady.'_

"I think it'd be cool. Come on kiddo. Think of how mad he'd be…"

'_Leave Flash, leave. Come on.' _I was looking back and forth between the Flash and the hundreds of deadly hollows that will get here in about 3 minutes! I couldn't flash step because the Flash was here, and even if I did, there's no doubt in my mind that he'd be able to catch me; he moves at the speed of thought.

'_Oh Lady Maximilienne~'_

'_Overpowering him isn't a smart idea either. I need to remain inconspicuous, but if I don't do something there will be no one to be inconspicuous towards.'_

'_**Lady Maximilienne!**__'_

'_**What?**__'_

' _J'ozz-dono is a telepath. Why don't you just relay him a message that way?'_

'…' I mentally smacked my head. I couldn't do it physically because Flash was still here.

I swear I heard Sebastian mutter something about being old, and I agreed with him whole-heartedly. I guess in my panic I forgot; so much for staying calm and level-headed.

'_My old age must be catching up to me,' _how did I forget that after I just talked about how he could pass the information off as being a psychic? I tried to mentally contact J'onn, _'J'onn, are you there? We have a situation. J'onn? J'onn? J'onn? It's very important!'_

With the force of a truck, the realization hit me. J'onn wasn't at the Watchtower today, and he wasn't going to be back for a couple of days.

* * *

"So how've you been J'onn?"

"I've been doing rather well. How have you been Miss Max?"

"Ah, same old same old. Cleaning some junk here and there, Sebastian's constant blabbing, gaining the Justice League's trust, and preparing for a war, you know the usual stuff."

I grabbed another Oreo off the counter and looked at J'onn, "So, send anyone on any good missions lately?"

He smirked a bit, "You know, the usual stuff."

I smiled back at him, "Oh, hardy har har. So when do you think you're gonna start going on missions again?"

J'onn had told me a while back that he had been on a temporary leave from active League duty to be the Watchtower's "deploy man".

"I have one tomorrow."

I nearly dropped out of my seat, "Really? For what, mass weapons of destruction, Earth in peril again?"

"No, it is a diplomatic mission."

I frowned, "Boring. I mean it's important, but it's not exactly something that's very exciting. So what are you going to be doing?"

"I am to assist Steel and S.T.R.I.P.E. in their mission on the Tellurian planet."

"Seriously? Now I see why they need your help; neither of them are exactly the "diplomatic" type."

"Their mission is a simple recon mission to retrieve a lost space shuttle that was knocked out of orbit. Their armor and their strength are what is needed for the mission."

"So why is it a diplomatic mission?"

"The space shuttle was knocked into the Tellurian's atmosphere and onto their planet. We need their permission to land and retrieve the space shuttle."

"So why do you need to go?"

"The Tellurians are psychics who are weary of outsiders. As I am one of the few telepaths on the League, I decided that I would be of good use in this mission."

I nudged J'onn with my elbow, "Aww, come on J'onn; just admit it. You miss being "outside"."

J'onn smiled a bit, "Perhaps, but it was not a lie. Mr. Terrific will be taking my shift tomorrow. He will need the experience, as he may become my regular substitute."

"Aww man. Why him? He's not a bad guy, but he's just so, so I don't know." I had nothing personally against Terrific, but he had this aura of superiority, or mock-superiority. It's the feeling you get when you know someone's trying too hard to please you. I know that he's a genius, but I always felt safer when J'onn was deploying the members.

J'onn smiled a bit, "It's only for a day."

"Alright, alright. I don't like it, but I can cope with it for a day. Just try not to make it a permanent thing. So you're not going to be here tomorrow? Guess that means I don't have to bring any cookies."

"My apologies Miss Max. I shall be back in a day or two at the most."

"It's cool. It's just one day, what could go wrong?"

* * *

I swear to all the gods in all the Heavens that I will never make a claim like that again.

Unaware of the impending danger, Flash just continued with his rambling, "Then we can push him through the airshaft…"

Seriously what was this boy planning?

'_Lady Maximilienne, what now? J'ozz-dono is out of the question, and we're running out of time.'_

'_1.83 minutes left! Come on Sebastian, help me think of something. Quick!'_ I was getting frantic. The hollows were so close that I could see their features, and believe me, they weren't very pretty.

From what I can tell, they ranged from anywhere from the Menos to Gillian to Adjuchas. This fight was not going to be easy, whether I fought alone or with the League.

I might not have been able to sense their spiritual pressure, but that didn't mean that they were weak. On the contrary, it could mean that they're so strong that they can mask their energy to a tee. Besides, anyone whose ever fought a hollow knows never to underestimate them. Even the smallest hollows can cause a lot of damage; just look at the Shrieker type hollows' "artillery".

Some of the hollows looked more human than others. I can only assume that these were either Vasto Lorde or the "Arrancar" that Kisuke was telling me about for the past few months. Given that they looked more Shinigami like than hollows I was betting on the latter. Plus, Kisuke sent me a couple of pictures of how some of them looked like through the phone, and these few hollows looked very close to them.

I was amazed; I didn't know that my phone could send pictures. I didn't even know that they could take them. Man, was I ever behind on today's technological advances.

From what Kisuke's told me, Arrancar are a force to be reckoned with; he recently told me about some Fraccion, the "subordinates" of the Espada which are the top 10 strongest Arrancar in Aizen's army. They were at an Adjuchas level and they gave a Captain, two Lieutenants, a 3rd Seat, a 5th Seat, a Kuchiki, and that Ichigo boy a lot of grief.

Adjuchas, that's how strong the Fraccion were. They were mere Adjuchas. Could you imagine how strong the top Espada must be? The ones that are Vasto Lordes?

Apparently, Arrancar, when they go through the Arrancarification, grow 10 times stronger. A Vasto Lorde alone causes Captains some grief; now imagine a Vasto Lorde that is 10 times stronger than any Captain. I couldn't imagine any one defeating a Vasto Lorde Arrancar in a straight out fight.

Unless of course they were Gramps; he could be ranked as a God if he ever tried for that position.

The amount of Arrancar was few compared to the number of regular hollows. I could only assume that each Arrancar was given a small fleet of hollows to command, or to "have their backs."

'_I don't know Mi'Lady. I just don't know. Who else is left that you could ask?'_

'_Batman! He's always five steps ahead of everyone! I'm sure he can help.'_

'_Or he might just magically pull something out of his utility belt.'_

'_Hey, if it gets us out of this jam without us revealing ourselves, I'm all for the plan.'_

My attention ran back to the Flash who was still talking, "And then we could pile the entire cow dun…"

"Hey Flash. I just remembered something."

He looked down at me, "Hmm? What's up?"

"Batman told me that he needed to talk to me about…some stuff. Something about the outside windows of the Watchtower being part of my job or something like that."

"Really? That's odd; Bats isn't here today."

My eyes widened at this new found fact, "What? Why?"

"Calm down squirt. There was a breakout at Arkham yesterday. All the psychopaths from the Mad Hatter to the Joker are out on the loose," he smiled, I guess for good humor, "Bats didn't want anyone in **his** city."

He began to pinch my cheek and chuckled slightly, "Aww, do you miss Bats?"

I didn't respond to him, this situation just went from bad to worse to downright catastrophic.

My thought process was completely cut off when the Watchtower shook violently, as if an asteroid hit it, but I knew better.

The swarm of hollows was now on the outside of the Watchtower, and I couldn't do anything about it; I wasted too much time thinking and "talking" to the Flash.

The Flash quickly grabbed me as I dropped my cleaning equipment, and he got up off the ground slightly, rubbing his head. He was very unsteady because the Watchtower was constantly shaking, "Woah! Hey Max, you alright?"

Flash was holding onto me protectively, "I'm fine. You can let go no…"

"No way, we're getting you to the Safety Hatch." Some of the windows started to crack under the pressure of the hollows.

I could hear Flash mutter under his breath, "What's that?"

'_Could he see it? But that's impossible.'_

'_Check Mi'Lady.'_

"What's what?"

"I see this, outline of something. It's pressing up against the Watchtower."

Could he only see one? Or maybe it was because the hollows were so close together that it looked like one blob.

He can, however, only see the outline. Usually those who have some spiritual senses are able to make out an outline of a hollow, but the Flash shouldn't be able to because he has almost zilch spiritual energy. This day was getting stranger by the minute.

The Watchtower shook some more and the windows looked like they were about to cave in.

The intercom started to static and once the static cleared, Terrific's voice was heard over the chaos, "Attention all Watchtower personnel, this is an Omega-Level threat! The Watchtower is being attacked! Watchtower force field is being engaged! Get all staff members to the Safety Hatch! All members report to the Main Lobby for further instructions!"

"Come on squirt, you heard the man!"

Before I could even think about protesting, Flash zipped off towards the Safety Hatch.

For all those who are wondering, the Safety Hatch is a secure area in the Watchtower where the "non-heroes" go when there is a threat on the Watchtower. It is dangerous to use the teleporters because, should they break halfway through while teleporting someone…lets just say being in two places at the same time isn't as glamorous as one might think.

It was a matter of seconds when we arrived at the Safety Hatch and, despite Flash's speed; we were one of the last ones to arrive.

I saw Dr. Light and Stargirl help guide the last remaining staff members into the panic room.

Flash put me down and ushered me into the room, "There, that's the last of them. Alright squirt, we're off to fight the bad guys now."

As the door was closing Flash said, "Hey guys, watch over Max will ya? Despite her size, she can be quite a handful."

As the door finally closed and locked from the outside, I felt as if my doom was sealed.

'_Just wonderful. Isn't this peachy Lady Maximilienne? We're stuck in a stuffy room filled with hundreds of strangers, while the League is fighting a battle they __**can't**__ win!'_

'_Calm down Sebastian,' _he was right though. As I have stated before, there are few things that can hurt a hollow. One of which is a Soul Cutter, Quincy arrows do very well too, and anything that has been, even lightly, coated with spiritual energy.

I know that all the League members have spiritual energy, what living thing doesn't? The issue is, however, that they can't, or rather they don't know how, to use it, nor is there even enough spiritual energy around their body; their spiritual energy is surrounding their core/heart; just enough to sustain their life. It won't do them any good.

'_You better start storing it now Sebastian,' _I cracked my neck and my knuckles, _'because I'm done playing nice.'_

This was **so** not going according to plan.

xX – Green Arrow POV | Watchtower Main Lobby – Xx

The Watchtower was being attacked by these, well I don't know what they were. They can only be described as ghosts; things that we couldn't see, but we knew were there.

The majority of the people in the League were only able to see as much as I could, which wasn't a lot; we were able to see a small outline, a rough transparent outline, of creatures attacking the Watchtower.

Terrific put up the Watchtower's force field and that knocked most of them off, but the force field doesn't look like it'd be able to hold on for much longer. Whatever these things were, they sure are strong.

"Everyone, can I please have your attention?" At that moment, the Flash just zipped in with Dr. Light and Stargirl following close behind.

I looked up to see the Man of Steel himself standing on the same platform he did during our initiation. I guess we should be glad that there isn't a major disaster somewhere else in the world; we could use Superman's help.

Standing beside him is Dr. Fate and Zatanna; two of the League's finest magic users.

"As I'm sure you can tell, the Watchtower is being attacked. By who or what, I don't know, but Dr. Fate and Zatanna will be able to shed some light on the situation." Superman stepped back a bit and the two heroes walked up closer, so that the rest of the League could see them better on the platform.

At that moment, the Watchtower shook twice as violently as it did the first time, and Dr. Fate spoke first, "As I'm sure you are all aware, we are being attacked. These creatures that you can all just barely make out are quite visible to both Zatanna and I. There does not seem to be just one creature, but hundreds, maybe thousands."

"They don't all look very strong, and we don't know exactly who they are or what they want from us, but it is certain that they mean great harm."

"You can see them?" Zatanna and Dr. Fate nodded at Booster Gold, "Well then what do they look like? I want to know what we're fighting against."

"They are rather strange creatures. All these creatures vary in size, color, shape, and form, but all of them have two distinctive traits."

"All of them have a mask, or are coated with a white material that looks very similar to the material that their masks are made of."

"Zatanna and I both believe that they may be from an alien tribe or something of the sorts."

"And the other one?" I looked over to see Wildcat.

"They all have a hole on them. Either on their chest, in their stomach, on their leg, the list goes on. Dr. Fate and I believe that this could be a trait that is only of their species."

"Unfortunately none of those characteristics will help us fight the monsters. We know nothing of their weaknesses, their strengths, or even their abilities."

"They also emit a strange energy."

Dr. Fate nodded to Zatanna, "Yes, it appears that the creatures have remnants of a very old type of magic. It is almost impossible to detect, so I apologize that we can't give you any more information."

"So how in tarnations do you expect us to fend these critters off? None of us can even see them."

Vig raised a good question, just how were we supposed to fight something that, not only could we not see, but was wielding old magic. I don't know about anyone else, but magic is very difficult to fight against, no matter how old it is. In fact, the older the magic, the stronger it's more likely to be.

There was a widespread agreement as the heroes start to talk amongst themselves about the situation. The Shining Knight started to speak, "I've encountered these creatures once before."

Immediately the chatter in the room ceased, and Knight continued, "Merlin told me about these _old magic_ creatures."

"Please, tell us what you know."

Knight looked up at Dr. Fate, "I do not know much."

"Shining Knight please, any information that you have," the Watchtower shook again as the force field became static for a moment before resuming its solid form. Superman continued, "will be useful. We need to know more about what we're going up against."

Sir Arthur nodded his head, "I only know that they are not of this world. Merlin once tried to revive a person once before, at the orders of my King, his wife Queen Guinevere. I arrived there to pick up the sword that Merlin promised me, but when I got there he was being attacked."

"By what?" I looked over towards Knight.

"I could not see them at all, and Merlin was able to see them only about as clear as a foggy day."

Knight looked back up at Superman, "I grabbed my sword that Merlin finished before my arrival, and I slew the beast."

Ice asked Knight, "How did you do that if you couldn't see them?"

"Though I couldn't see it, Merlin could make out the creature. It was just slightly better than just an outline."

"It appears as if those who have an affinity to magic are able to see these creatures better than those who don't posses magic."

"How do you know the creatures are one in the same?" Zatanna asked.

"Because Merlin described them as you had, a mask on their face, with a hole in their chest. They emitted age old magic; unfortunately I can not recall what the name of it was."

"Thank you for the information Shining Knight."

"My apologies Superman. I am unable to provide you with more information."

"That is fine…"

"Wait a second!" I looked over at Shayera who had the sudden outburst.

"You said that the creature emerged because Merlin was trying to revive someone right?"

"Yes, that is correct."

Wonder Woman stepped forward amongst the midst silent panic, "Could the revival have done something to bring about this creature?"

"My apologies My Lady, but I don't know. It is, however, a possibility."

"Then perhaps these creatures feast on the living."

The Question stepped forward, "Or the dead."

The crowd turned towards him, "What're you gettin' at Q?"

The Question turned towards Superman, "We're not fighting aliens. Whatever we're fighting, is not of this world."

It certainly made sense...in a way that didn't make any sense at all.

But the possibility was there. We may very well be fighting creatures that are not of this world.

Superman stepped forward once again, "Whatever they are, we have to stop them."

I peered over my shoulder to see The Question walking out of the room. Knowing him, it was probably something to do with his conspirac**y**. Emphasize on the singularity.

As Superman began to give instructions alongside Mr. Terrific on who should stay in the Watchtower to guard the staff members, and who should go out to try to defend the Watchtower, The Question was out of the room and in the hallway. No one noticed that he was leaving, so I decided to follow him, just in case.

I caught up with him and grabbed his shoulder, "And where do you think you're going? This is an Omega-Level threat, which means **every** League members has a role to play."

"Our fight will be futile."

"Well that's a bit pessimistic, even for you. What you getting scared? I didn't take you for the type to run."

Q ignored my comment, "We're picking someone up." At that moment, the Watchtower's power went out as well as the power for the backup generator. This was bad.

Whatever these creatures were, they were causing a lot of damage. I looked out the window briefly to see Dr. Fate, Dr. Light, Green Lantern, and a lot of other League members seemingly fighting air. I honestly couldn't blame them; just how do you fight something you can't see?

It was fine that The Question and I weren't outside; we didn't have any powers or abilities that worked out in open space.

I just realized what Q said, "Wait, picking up whom?"

"The only person who knows the solution to this situation and the only person that'd be able to explain everything."

I realized that we were heading to the Safety Hatch, "Wait, don't tell me its one of the staff members."

I chuckled slightly, "Next thing you know, I'm going to hear you say it's Max or something."

Q forced the door open with his hands since all the power was cut off the electric doors weren't working, "I'm not going to tell you."

What I saw in the room surprised me; Max was in the middle of the room standing with a sword in her hand. Scattered around the panic room were the hundred-some staff members of the Watchtower. They weren't dead, just knocked out.

"I'm going to show you."

Max looked at us, but this wasn't the look of the innocent girl who cleaned my room. This was the look of a soldier, a warrior, someone who was ready to fight, maybe to kill.

"It's about time you got here Q."

She sounded the same, but the vibe she gave off, though it wasn't deadly, didn't feel quite safe to be around.

What is she? Or rather, who is she?

She started to walk out the door, "Come on, we don't have much time."

* * *

Sorry it wasn't as long as it could have been. This chapter is two parts mostly for the fact that it would be too long of a chapter otherwise. Thank you all for reading and please review. I'll update faster if you do =3

For sure, when it hits 60 reviews, I will update the next chapter. It's not a condition for updating, merely just that the minute it hits that number I'll update the chapter within a weeks top of that time.


	6. Second Plan

**Check out JuniorFanficCritic who has reviewed the first chapter of this story on YouTube if you want to at www. youtube .com/watch?v=GUiZsY2qE4s **

_Hello everyone, I am sorry that I took so long to update, but I was extremely busy with college and just life in general. I tried to make this really long for all those who were kind enough to wait and not complain.  
_

_Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favorited/alerted/read/etc., and again I apologize for taking so long to update. _

_Special thanks to _Champion of Justice, tinheritance, Riqis Inna Sunja,_ and_ asredwer _for reviewing my Trailer chapter. They didn't have to, but just knowing that there were people out there that would still review for me despite not having to gave me the push I needed =3._

_I will be referring to Shinigami attire, weaponry, titles, honorifics, and such in their Japanese names to prevent some confusion and to make it easier to understand. _

_As I've said before, the time frames in these are a little strange, because both series move at different paces (Bleach's storyline is basically in a 6 month span from Episode 1 to the Winter War while JLU goes by years from just Season 1 to Season 2). I'm trying to make it work, so if you could just suspend disbelief for a little bit and just sort of role with it, I would very much appreciate it. Also as an added, some episodes of JLU are altered in order slightly. Not necessarily in this chapter, but just a future reference in case I ever do. It'll never be anything as big as changing Once Upon a Future Time to before Ancient History happens. It's just small minor changes (also because I believe that the certain episodes happened together [what else would the other League members be doing while a small group is having a mission?])  
_

_I'm still working on beta-ing the remaining earlier chapters and some information in the chapters has been changed. It's nothing that will affect the overall story, but feel free to go back and re-read them. If you have time you can review them as well if you'd like ;)_

_Once again I would like to thank everyone who has been patient so far, and I thank everyone who has reviewed. It really kept me motivated to write knowing that there were people out there that actually cared whether I update or not. As long as there is one person that likes my story and will follow through with it as I write it, I will continue to write; however I may take longer, much longer._

"_**This is Japanese"**_

"_Thoughts/Dreams"_

"English Speech"

_**Important Reminder: I do not watch fillers, and I only use material from the Manga (unless the Anime episodes follow really close to the Manga where they only change a few lines). This is because Manga is canon material, and it is what the author intended it to be; it is the actual storyline. So if there are any filler episode characters or things that you want me to add, I will not add them. I apologize if this upsets anyone, but I've never really liked how non-canon characters would unnecessarily stay in the main storyline. **_

As far as English Dub vs English Sub goes in regards to the script, I'll stick to the original script in the English Sub, but nicknames (like Ichigo's nickname to Kisuke: Geta-boshi vs. Mr. Hat-and-Clogs) I'm sticking to the English Dub because its simpler that way; it doesn't interrupt the flow of the story as much. Besides, its pointless to have to Japanese words when I'm using English dialogue when I can just _**Bold and Italicize**_ it to "make it" Japanese.

**Last Note:** I'm going to try to give mention to every character that showed up in the DCAU Justice League Unlimited (not in this chapter but throughout the story). Characters that should have had more screen time (or at least dialogue) and didn't get it. I.e.- Gypsy, Crimson Fox, Vibe, Obsidian, The Gentleman Ghost, etc. Of course I will research them (and the ones without speaking roles in the actual series will be based upon their comic-book personalities since I can't really work with anything else).

* * *

Last time on _Soul Reaping Janitor of the Justice League_

"We're picking someone up."

The Watchtower's power went out as well as the power for the backup generator.

"Wait, picking up whom?"

"The only person who knows the solution to this situation and the only person that'd be able to explain everything."

"It's about time you got here Q."

* * *

"Do it to me Urahara-san."

"But…Maxi-chan…what would people say?"

"Who cares what they say? This is what I want; I give you permission."

"All this because of Ai…"

"**Shut up! **I'm not doing this because of him; I'm doing this for me. You told me that this was what you've been wanting for centuries. You asked me years ago and I refused, what's so different now? It's not like you haven't done something similar to this to me before."

"I know, but, that was out of...necessity. What if you…"

"What, get caught? What do I care what Soul Society thinks? What do I care what anyone thinks?" I reached up to grab Kisuke's face, "I only care what my students think; Tessai, Yoruichi, hell not even Shinji or Hiyori will care if you do this. They'll acknowledge that this is my decision; this is what I want. Just do it Urahara-san."

"Max…" That tone, that voice, that name, he only used it when he was serious, "Once I start, I'm not going to stop; I won't be able to stop."

He grabbed the hand that was on his face, "This will hurt, greatly." I could tell that he wanted to do it, **badly**, but he didn't want me to do it because I felt like I had to. And I wasn't doing this because I had to, I'm doing this because I want to, "I can't…"

"You act like I **want** to sleep through this. Enough talking Urahara-san; just do it."

Kisuke grabbed my hand and laid me down. He softly kissed my forehead, silently muttering a quick, "I'm sorry."

I knew that he would both enjoy this, and hate it.

He grabbed a towel and told me to bite on it. I didn't even wince when he lifted up the scalpel and began to operate on me. This is what he's been wanting for for years—a test subject for his new idea: the replacement of all organs and bones in the body with a synthetic substitute. It'll make me faster, stronger, and less vulnerable.

Kisuke couldn't put me to sleep because he didn't bring the anesthetics with him when he fled the Soul Society, but I didn't want to be put to sleep; I wanted to feel the pain, I wanted to know that I still existed, I wanted…no, I needed to know that there was a me that existed outside of Aizen.

Kisuke wanted to use me as a test subject years ago because he's operated on my body once before for my arm, and many times before for small miscellaneous things like stitching up a wound. The main reason why Kisuke wanted to use me, and specifically me, for a test subject is a story for another time.

Kisuke told me himself that he couldn't leave the synthetic substitute parts behind in the Soul Society; besides the Hogyoku, the synthetic substitutes were Kisuke's biggest project—both him and Mayuri's. Though knowing Mayuri, I'm sure he's capable enough to make another batch for himself.

Kisuke's main focus has always been to make better Shinigami—either by making them Vizards or, in my case, replacing their bodies for another.

* * *

xX – Watchtower | 4:35 PM – Xx

The doors slid shut and locked from the outside.

'_Just wonderful. Isn't this peachy Lady Maximilienne? We're stuck in a stuffy room filled with hundreds of strangers, while the League is fighting a battle they __**can't**__ win!'_

'_Calm down Sebastian,' _he was right though. As I've stated before, there are few things that can hurt a Hollow. One of which is a Soul Cutter; Quincy arrows do very well too, and anything that's been, even lightly, coated with spiritual energy is able to cause damage.

The League members have spiritual energy; what living thing doesn't? The issue lies in the fact that they can't, or rather they don't know how, to use it, nor is there enough spiritual energy in their bodies; their spiritual energy is surrounding their core/heart; just enough to sustain their life. It won't do them any good in a battle.

'_You better start storing it now Sebastian,' _I cracked my neck and my knuckles, _'because I'm done playing nice.'_ I really didn't intend for it to turn out this way, but given the situation, I'm sure the others will forgive me; it'll only hurt for a second.

'_As you wish Mi'Lady.'_

As I reached into my pocket rearing to unrelease Sebastian, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I looked up to see Jasmine Dailey, one of the technicians in Sub-Level 5 that worked to make sure that the hatches to the Javelins would open on queue. Her favorite food is spaghetti with meatballs sprinkled with just a tad bit of parmesan cheese and Alfredo sauce. She likes long walks on the beach and karaoke nights with her two friends who also work on Sub-Level 5: Jennifer King and Mariette Stases.

She has two children: Damien and Margaret. Damien is eight and suffers from a minor-case of dyslexia which caused him to be held back a year, so he's now in second grade at Star City Elementary. Margaret is twelve and she's an aspiring pianist in the seventh grade at Star City Middle School.

Jasmine's been married twice; her first husband, Jake Jeremiah, died in a chemical explosion while working at Star Labs and her second husband, Geordie Dailey, is a regular "Mr. Mom" who stays at home to watch the kids. Both of the children were from Jake, and Jasmine is expecting another child which will be Geordie's.

I made it my business to memorize the bios of everyone who went in and out of the Watchtower. I haven't memorized each and every individual's information (there was a bit too many workers), but at the very least I was able to match names and faces.

Jasmine's last name was in the D's, so I was able to go over her profile before many others.

It's not as difficult as it sounds if you talk to them rather than memorize the information from a piece of paper; it's like getting to know a friend versus memorizing the information of a stranger.

Don't get me wrong, these people (the workers) were **not** my friends. Acquaintances maybe, but definitely not friends.

Despite what I told Kara, I didn't see any of the League members as friends per say (aside from the first day that I met the Supers, I've never referred to any of them as friends again). I was definitely close to them, but I still couldn't consider them as friends. It was more like the middle ground before friends and acquaintances; I only told her that I was her friend to get her to trust me (I didn't want to use her, but this is war, and all is fair).

It wasn't like I didn't like or trust her and the other league members to an extent, but I didn't want to throw around the "Friend" word too often or it'll lose its meaning; it's like throwing around the word "Love"; the word loses all sentimental value.

I've always been paranoid about who I hung around with since Aizen's betrayal; if someone I've known for centuries could betray my trust, there was no doubt in my mind that someone I've known for a couple months could do the same.

Another reason was that they didn't really know the real me, and I'm not just talking about being a Shinigami. Most of my "cutesy-lovey-kiddy" act was just that, an act. It's true that I'm a hot-tempered person with a Napoleon Complex and that I do act like a child sometimes, but I'm much more mature and experienced than I let on (obviously this was kept hidden for good reasons to keep up my façade). I'm also calculating, cold-hearted, vain, and obsessed with fighting and bloodshed.

Jasmine knelt down and looked at me with concern, probably her maternal instincts kicking in, "Are you okay dear? Do you need something? I know it's a bit scary, but don't worry the League will get us out of this, I just know it."

I turned my body around so that I was facing her. I wasn't about to answer her, because I knew that she didn't understand the gravity of the situation; she didn't know that the League couldn't do anything against Hollows. I grabbed one of her shoulders with my hand, and with my other I pulled the front of my fedora over my eyes and nodded. I mentally reassured myself that this was necessary; I had issues with attacking a pregnant woman, "I'm sorry."

She tilted her head ever so slightly, "Sorry? For wh…?"

I squeezed a pressure point on her shoulder that caused her to sway slightly before falling over. I made sure to catch her before she hit the ground; I didn't want to injure the unborn fetus.

"Ahhh! Someone help!"

The entire room looked in my direction as I screamed for assistance. Some were panicking, trying to figure out what was going on, while others took the initiative and began to examine Jasmine while pushing me aside thinking that I either shouldn't see this, or that I would get in the way. Either way I wasn't going to complain about it.

Slipping away from the crowd wasn't too difficult; everyone was worried that Jasmine's fainting episode would hurt the baby and/or her own health, so I was the last thing on their minds.

'_There must be at least a hundred staff members here. I have the advantage because the room's very simple in design, but it's going to be hard taking them out without alerting __**someone**__.'_

'_Do you require my assistance Mi'Lady?'_

'_No, I don't need it just yet. It shouldn't be that bad; they're technicians, not guards.'_

'_I'm really hoping that you're not planning on taking them down in your usual manor.'_

'_They're humans Sebastian; you act like I'm going to mutilate them.'_

'_Yes, well that is usually your general course of action in concerns to fighting. Besides, you do like to take things apart.'_

'_Yes, but I have trouble putting things back together again. Besides you know flashy fights are beneath me now; why make anyone suffer if you're just going to kill them anyways? Besides, there's no reason for me **to** kill them, and since I'm not Kisuke and I can't put them back together, I'm not going to try to take them apart. As long as they don't see me coming, a quick knock on the head should do for most of them.'_

'_Just try not to give the lot a concussion. I hope you're aware that we still need them even after this little incident blows over.'_

'_I know, stop treating me like a child Sebastian.' _Crouching down on the ground in a runner's position, I pushed off of my back leg and Shunpo-ed around the room.

One by one, two by two, and sometimes more, the staff members went down like flies. The first half were easy to take care of, but after a while people started to notice that something was wrong when the people around them suddenly collapsed to the floor.

Panic raced through the room as the staff members attempted to compose themselves and try to figure out what was going on, but when facing the power of a Shinigami who specialized in combat, they weren't going to get the chance to do much of anything before I knocked them out.

I was right in the fact that a simple knock on the head would take care of most of them, but there were a few who had harder heads than most.

Pointing my pointer and middle finger in a downward position, I struck the pressure points of those select individuals' shoulders in order to knock them out.

'_And so the Master is reborn.'_

'_She never died; she was just on an extended vacation.'_ My self-proclaimed title remained strong and true: Dim Mak (as Yoruichi self-proclaimed herself as the "Goddess of Flash"); it originated from Chinese Wuxia fiction. Thought literally it means press artery, the concept of it is supposed to mean "the Touch of Death." Taken that I "borrowed" this technique from the Chinese Soul Society, I thought the Chinese title reference would be fitting.

It's true that I was, and still am, very strong, but pure strength was not my forte. Given Sebastian's ability, and his non-combatant nature, I'm often forced to eliminate my opponents in the minimal amount of time given.

Of course I don't understand why anyone would want to take their time taking out their opponents; Hollywood often gives people the misconception that fighting is a stream of hits and fireworks; real fights (not shows and exhibitions) last a few of minutes at the most (especially straight out fights [no weapons, no distractions, and no furniture]), even that is considered rather long. If anyone's fought for more than a few minutes, you'd understand that it's not as easy as the movies make it out to be; you tire. My match with Senichi didn't even last all that long.

The reason why I was able to have a status of "Sensei" over my students wasn't because I was stronger than they were (no, all my students save for a couple are stronger than I physically), it was because I knew how to take out my opponents faster than they could; I had more experience and I was a great manipulator of Reiatsu when it came to a person's body through the pressure point technique.

I learned this fighting style from my decades of research on the Chinese Soul Society and how the majority of their fighters fought using pressure points, but that's a story for another time.

Basically in both the living body and in a soul's body, there are pressure points that allow the body to perform certain movements and functions. Eliminate one and it can cause anything from dislocating a limb to cutting a Soul Reaper's connection with their Zanpakutō to death. It all depended on which point you hit, how much pressure is exerted, and, if you're hitting more than one, what order you're hitting the points in.

I'm not as good as the Chinese Soul Reapers who used this fighting style as a basis for all their other techniques; however, I'm the best at using this technique amongst the Japanese Soul Reapers. This is mainly due to the fact that I'm the only one that utilizes this technique; most stick to sword fighting and/or Kido. Squad 2 doesn't use them often either; why use a complex technique that requires centuries of practice and research if your current method works just fine; if its not broken, don't fix it.

Squad 2 specializes mainly in stealthy assassinations and captures, the pressure point, though it's effective, isn't necessary and it over complicates things for beginners. And if a point wasn't precisely hit, it could reveal the location of the member; it was more trouble than it was worth.

I tried to teach it to my students, but it just wasn't their forte. I shifted my focus to training them to deflect the technique instead.

Though it isn't as exciting as going out on a full on battle with clashing swords and flashy spells, it is much more effective in getting the job finished. I learned that lesson the hard way.

'_1.52 minutes Mi'Lady.'_

'_It shouldn't have taken me that long.'_

'_There were quite a few of them.' _I looked down at the sea of bodies, some piled on top of one another. I mentally apologized to them, but I thought nothing more of it; there were more important things to worry about right now.

'_Yes, but I had the element of surprise, and I overpowered them by a mile.' _I mentally sighed, _'I'm getting rusty in my old age.'_

'_You probably should have taken them all out on the shoulders rather than knocking their heads. It would have been much more effective.'_

'_Yes, but no more fun. Besides, it's much quicker knocking them on the head because the angles' were easier to get to.'_

Unclipping Sebastian from my pocket, I quickly unreleased him; I don't want to unnecessarily use up his ability on accident.

'_Still storing Sebastian?'_

'_Yes, Mi'Lady. We should have enough when we're outside; I'm ready and waiting.' _I was lucky that Sebastian's ability could be used even in his unreleased form. I only needed to release it for the activation, but I needed to re-release it if I was going to release the ability._  
_

'_Good.'_

The power went off, _'There goes the power.'_

Then the power turned back on, _'And here comes the back-up power.'_

And then it went back off, _'And there goes the back-up power.'_

"How the hell does the generator **and** the backup generator go down at the same time?"

'_What's the point of having the generator __**and**__ the backup generator shut down at the same time? That sort of defeats the purpose of having a backup generator.'_

'_Hell if I knew.'_ I turned towards the doors as I heard them being pried open only to see The Question and Green Arrow.

'_What took them so fuckin' long?'_

'_The Watchtower is a big place Mi'Lady, you should know that. Besides, you didn't exactly call for The Question; we're lucky he's here at all.'_

'_Lucky? Not likely, you act as if I couldn't have broken out of this place on my own. Which, if you look around, I did.'_

I wasn't angry at The Question, nor was I angry at Sebastian, but the tense atmosphere was tearing down on my mood.

"It's about time you got here Q." My fedora shadowed my face, but my eyes were still visible. Chances were that my expression wasn't cheerful—a mirror of my tone; Green Arrow looked like he was going to shit in his pants and The Question…its The Question, 'nough said.

I started to walk out of the door, "Come on, we don't have much time."

I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder, "Max, what's going on?"

"I'll explain later G.A."

"Nuh-uh little missy. Not until I get an expl…" The Watchtower trembled from the force of the Hollows crashing against the force field.

"Now's not the time G.A. Let me go!" I smacked his hand off with a little more force than necessary, but it wasn't enough to cause damage to his hand. The anger boiled inside of me, but it wasn't directed at Green Arrow, no. It was directed at the situation, at Aizen, and at me for allowing this to happen.

'_Lady Maximilienne.' _Sebastian, I knew, could sense my angst and the guilt that panged at my heart.

'_For all I know, Aizen already knows that I'm here. He's going through the League to get through to me, and I'll be damned if I'm just going to sit back and watch. He's gotta get through **me** if he wants the League.'_

'_But that may be his intentions Mi'Lady.'_

'_You said it yourself Sebastian, the League is fighting a battle that they can't win. What would you have me do? Besides, you know me better than that; I don't let people fight my battles.'_

I couldn't really describe the look on G.A.'s face. It looked betrayed, concerned, but above all, confused. To see such a man with such strong will look so lost, I couldn't help but be reminded of Kisuke and how he looked when we were betrayed by Aizen and sentenced by Central 46.

"You lied to us, about who you are, where you're from. Everything, why? I think we at least deserve an explanation."

My angered died down a bit as Green Arrow spoke to me slowly as if he was hoping that he was wrong, a wish that both he and I shared. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, "Not all of it was a lie. And I have my reasons."

I looked over at the Question as he grabbed my shoulder, _**"I suggest you explain. Explain everything." **_

"You don't have to speak in Japanese, Q; its not like G.A. can't understand. I don't care if anyone overhears, but right now is hardly the time to be explaining things."

I looked back to Green Arrow, "I promise you, everything I've done has been through good intentions. I'll explain everything. But not now, for now just trust me."

Green Arrow looked as if he was weighing his thoughts and at that moment the Watchtower trembled again, but the magnitude of this one was much stronger than the previous shake.

Coming to a conclusion, Green Arrow nodded his head, "For now. But I expect an explanation."

I nodded my head; this was as good as I was going to get in this situation, "And I'll give you one. I just hope that when the time comes, you'll understand."

No more was said as we started running out of Safety Hatch and through the corridors of the Watchtower. I would have Shunpo-ed out, but I needed to conserve my energy and assess the situation, and I couldn't very well leave the Question and Green Arrow alone. That would give them the wrong impression, something I wanted to avoid.

I looked over to Green Arrow, "If the power's off in the whole tower, how's the force field holding itself up?"

"The force field will still run because it runs on a separate energy source. A "backup-backup generator" of sorts."

"Why didn't you guys just make a backup-backup generator for the whole tower?"

"We need too much power. Besides, the League didn't think that something like **this**," Green Arrow swept an arm through the air, gesturing to the situation, "would ever happen."

"At least they thought ahead for the force field. I still don't understand how the Hollows managed to destroy the main power and the back-up power at the same time."

"Hollows?"

I looked over to the Question as our running continued, "The things that are attacking the Watchtower right now. I'll explain more to you later, but they're souls of the dead that remained on the living plane for too long."

"What're they doing here?"

"I'm still working on that. The main thing we have to focus on right now is getting outside. I have to get outside to help the others...**there!**" I pointed to the door that leads to the spacesuit closet.

We ran into the closet and started to search for a spacesuit, "This spacesuit won't fit, it's too big! They're all too big!"

I saw Green Arrow moving to put one on, "Don't even think about it G.A."

"What? Why not?"

"Your arrows won't do any damage," we rushed out of the closet and I pointed to the League members—Dr. Light, Ray, Stargirl, and Metamorpho—that were attempting to fight the Hollows, but they're just swinging wildly in the air as the Hollows attack each and every one of them with great ease, "none of you can even see them let alone touch them. Your weapons are useless; you'll only be in the way."

I didn't want it to come out as cruel as it did, but Green Arrow had to face the fact that in this situation, he was useless unless he arrows were able to damage the Hollows, and I wasn't about to coat each and every single one of his arrows with Spiritual Energy; it was a waste of time and energy, no pun intended.

The Question didn't make a move to put one on; I'm sure he understood that he couldn't help, at least not in the way that Green Arrow wanted to help.

"I need to get out there somehow, but I can't exactly breathe in space."

"You're dead; it shouldn't matter."

"Wait, you're what?"

I ignored Green Arrow's question, "As much as that makes sense Q, it does matter. The lack of Spiritual Energy is enough to weaken me, but the lack of oxygen could very well kill me…again. The make up of a Shinigami's body isn't that much different from a human's."

"A Shinigami?" I looked over to Green Arrow. He was one of the few people on the Watchtower that was able to speak Japanese—minus Dr. Light, Huntress, Speedy, and Batman—and he knew what Shinigami meant—the Grim Reaper.

"Like I said, I'll explain it to you later." As the words came out of my mouth the Watchtower shook once more.

"Hey G.A., the force field** will **hold up right?"

"It can endure a lot from what we've seen in the past. It's just not as strong without the main power system to help reinforce it, but it should hold up just fine."

I nodded my head once more. I could only pray that G.A. was right.

"So what do we do now?"

"Is there an oxygen tank or something that'll let me go outside? Anything will do as long as I'm able to breathe in it and stay mobile."

Question spoke up, "There's an oxygen mask that the League uses for emergency purposes in Sector L-52, but at most it'll only last you 10 minutes."

"That's more than enough time."

"Sector L-52? That's all the way on the other side of the Watchtower."

I looked up to Green Arrow. He was right; Sector L-52 was on the North-East Wing of the Watchtower; we are on the South-West Wing of the Watchtower. It couldn't have been any farther if we wanted it to be.

I scratched the back of my head before fixing my fedora, "I guess I have no choice."

I hoisted Green Arrow onto my back after readjusting Sebastian slightly on my back and I carried The Question bridal style. Any other time, any one would be laughing at two grown men being carried by a vertically challenged little girl. The Question was awkwardly stationed in my arms with his legs high up in the air, his hand holding onto his fedora, and his head leaning towards my neck in a reflexive attempt not to fall. Green Arrow arms hung over my shoulders and reflexively gripped around my neck and, with my arms looped around his legs and holding onto the Question at the same time, his legs were in an awkward position that slightly curved his body into a V-position.

"Woah! Max, what in the world?"

"What're you…?" I quickly cut off The Question, "This is the fastest way to get there. G.A., Q, just hang on tight."

The Question was a bit more than a little uncomfortable, but I didn't pay him too much attention. Green Arrow wasn't anymore comfortable than The Question, but he heeded my warning and tightened his hold around my neck.

Feeling the tightened grip, and after slightly adjusting The Question in my arms so that I would have a tighter hold, I Shunpo-ed down the hallways to get to Sector L-52.

As much as I didn't want to waste any energy, we didn't have any time to waste. If I were to run alongside Green Arrow and The Question, it would have been too time consuming. I didn't **need** to bring the both of them, but it wasn't exactly a smart idea to leave them alone without any defenses either.

Speeding through the hallways I saw a few other heroes looking out the window of the Watchtower. I could see the look of want in their eyes; they wanted to be outside helping and fighting the unseen force.

Unfortunately I tired in front of a group of heroes (my stamina could use a **lot** of work): The Flash, Vigilante, Shining Knight, Huntress, Vixen, Black Canary, and Wildcat. Remember what I said about plans? Yeah, they don't ever seem to work out like you want them to; this was not good. I tried to push myself a bit further, but any more and I'd be completely spent.

The lack of Spiritual Energy in the Watchtower was finally getting to me; after months of dealing with the thin air my soul was finally feeling the strain.

The Flash, Huntress, Vixen, and Wildcat were great fighters…when there was gravity and when their opponents were visible; swinging wildly wasn't going to get them anywhere. They obviously stayed behind because they would be more of a burden than anything else outside.

Vigilante and the Shining Knight would do more damage than good because they would also be swinging their weapons wildly. It was more likely that they would hit a League member than the Hollows.

Black Canary would be very useful; unfortunately her meta-human abilities would be unusable in a spacesuit that covers her mouth.

I carefully set Green Arrow and The Question down to catch my breath; I must have run at least 10 miles using Shunpo, a good half an hour at the least.

'_Why did Batman have to make the new Watchtower so big?'_

'_Otherwise it wouldn't fit all the members Mi'Lady.'_

'_Rhetorical questions are a foreign language to you, aren't they?'_

We passed various areas: the ten or so lunch rooms, Sectors Z-Q (we were going up backwards), the technician rooms, two out of seven other Safety Hatches, and don't even get me started on how many League members' rooms we passed. I'm glad that I never had to clean every inch of this place.

"What the…?" The Flash was the first one to turn around and notice our presence. Green Arrow was on his knees panting a bit. Despite not having to do anything other than cling onto me, the speed in which I was sprinting at took a slight toll on his body. He'd be a bit winded, but otherwise he'd be fine. The Question adjusted his fedora and stood up from the ground a bit more shakily than Green Arrow.

"Max? What're you doin' here darlin'?" I wanted to answer Vigilante, but I too was too winded to speak.

Adjusting the fedora on my head The Flash spoke again, "I thought I put you in the Safety Hatch on C Deck, what're you doing here?"

'_Seriously, how many Sub-Levels, Sectors, and Decks do these guys have? The Watchtower's interior design rivals that of an entire Rukongai District.'_

"Did you just…?"

"Wait, but she's human…" Black Canary and Huntress looked at one another.

I finally caught my breath, but before I could say anything I was decked across the face by Wildcat, "I thought you were my friend! We trusted you!"

Man, did Wildcat ever hold a grudge against meta-humans or what? I mean I know we're not in the best situation now and I know that they're still recovering from the Thanagarian betrayal, but seriously. Now is not the time to be playing the blame game. I haven't even said anything yet. For all they knew it could have been some freaky device made by Blue Beatle or something.

I rubbed the cheek that was hit with the back of my hand. It wasn't the force of Wildcat's hand the sent me to the ground, but rather my surprise; as much as I respected Wildcat, he wasn't all that strong.

"Calm down," I said getting up, "I understand how you all feel, but please let me explain myself…"

"Why? So you can spout more **lies**? I…we trusted you! For all we know, this little _invasion_ thing is probably your fault."

"Wildcat, with all due respect, please **shut up**."

Silence swept throughout the group as they watched me brush off my pants and stare into their eyes. I looked at his face, my friend, my companion. I could only imagine what Wildcat was feeling; he treated me like family in the time that he "trained" me. He believed that I was the "normal" one amongst the League (of course I wasn't really **in** the League, but you get the jist of it).

I silently continued staring into each of their eyes, one by one. I stubbornly refused to look away.

I wasn't very good at reading eyes, but I distinguish the look of hurt, confusion, and anger from a mile away. Having seen and experienced all of them first handedly (and repeatedly), it was hard to forget.

Vixen, Huntress, and Black Canary looked very confused and if not slightly peeved. My guess was that they couldn't believe that a little girl like me, who threw up because a food was salty, had anything to do with the current situation.

* * *

I trudged down the hallways eager to take my much deserved break; I just finished cleaning all the toilets on Sub-Level 2 and let me tell you, its one of the **worst** levels to clean—bathroom-wise. It's like someone detonated a bomb in one of the toilets and all the water and shit just spewed everywhere. It was **not** pretty.

Finally getting to the tenth kitchen on the same Sub-Level I let out a large sigh; it was insane how big this Watchtower was—thank god I didn't have to clean every inch of it.

Given the length of time that it took to clean the toilets, my break was a bit later than it usually was, so the groups that ate in this kitchen during this time were absent.

I walked in expecting for the kitchen to be empty (the usual lunch rush hour was over), but to my surprise there was a group of three League members sitting and chatting as they ate: Huntress, Black Canary, and Vixen.

I walked over to the buffet line and got a slice of cake drowned in syrup before I decided to go and join the group for lunch; it wouldn't do me any good to sit alone in the corner.

"Hey guys."

They turned around and greeted me in a similar manner, "You're awfully late today Max."

"I had to clean up all the toilets on this floor. It was not fun." I answered Huntress before sitting down in an empty seat.

"When is it ever?" The four of us shared a small laugh at Black Canary's comment, "You know, you're going to get cavities if you continue eating like that; it's not good for your health."

"You're only a kid once Canary; once she hits our age then she can worry about her health."

"But being a kid doesn't make her immune to diabetes or obesity. Huntress you're setting a bad example; Canary's right, you shouldn't be eating that Max."

"It's okay Vixen; I have a high metabolism."

"Even so, all that sugar's bad for your body." I don't know whether I should be touched or annoyed by Vixen and Black Canary's concern about my eating habits, but I wasn't going to change it.

Besides, it's certainly better than eating nothing but water and, if you were lucky, Kompeito candy back in Rukongai.

Vixen took a pretzel off her plate and offered it to me, "Here, if you want a snack eat these. They're a lot healthier."

Coming from a model I wasn't sure if I could believe that; models were known to starve themselves, but Vixen wasn't your everyday model; her perfect figure wasn't due to her diet, it was due to the effort she put into staying fit through fighting for the League.

'_Lady Maximilienne, don't be rude. Miss Vixen's right; you should change your eating habits.'_

'_You know why I won't Sebastian; I can't.'_

I forced a grin to my face and took the pretzel from Vixen, "Thanks," but before I ate it I made sure to take off every last salt crystal.

"What do you have against salt?" Huntress asked me as I continued to take off the salt.

Black Canary agreed with Huntress, "Yeah, I've noticed that too. You don't eat ketchup, spam, ranch, or anything else that has even average sodium levels."

"Nothing, I just really don't like it."

"So you don't eat salt." It wasn't a question from Huntress, "You know you need sodium in your system."

Isn't it perfect, _'I just __**had**__ to sit next to the three most health conscious women in the League for lunch. __**Fun**__.'_

"It's fine. I **just.** **don't.** **like.** **it.**" I furrowed my brows a bit; bad memories indeed.

Vixen, Huntress, and Black Canary looked at one another and then back at me as I continued to take the salt off the pretzel; there was a** lot** of salt.

"So you don't eat **anything** with salt?" Vixen said, continuing to stare at me after I finished taking off all the crystals off the pretzel.

I popped it into my mouth, "Lots of things I eat have salt, but I drown it in sugar or hot sauce or something, anything to cover up the flavor."

"I've seen how you eat Max, and you're not going to live up to forty with your habits."

'_Oh how little Canary knows.'_

"All that work just to avoid a flavor you don't like; seems a bit childish to me." Huntress looked at me with teasing eyes.

"Then it's a good thing I'm a child." I wasn't, but let them believe what they want.

"You could at least eat some salad or something."

"No thanks, I'm not interested; it tastes so bland. If it's not overly a certain flavor, I don't want it." I closed my eyes thinking that the conversation was over. Who were they to judge what and how I ate? They weren't Old Man Yama or Big Sister Retsu, so they have no right to tell me what I can and can't do.

Unfortunately for me, faster than even my eyes could see, Black Canary shove a forkful of salad with Italian dressing into my mouth.

The second it hit my tongue I was overwhelmed with the delicious salty flavor I've been missing for a hundred years. Unfortunately it left as quickly as it came and I was then overwhelmed with a feeling of nausea.

* * *

"**Ahhhh!**"

Sōsuke ran into the kitchen with his Zanpakutō ready and waiting, "What's going on?"

Tears were prickling the corners of my eyes as I sniffed a bit. In my hands held a now empty bag of salt. I wasn't usually this emotional, but I worked so hard on it only for it to go to waste.

"M-My cookie batter…its dead." I loved salt very much (too much by average standards), so I decided to some salt like the instructions told me to, but I thought a pinch wasn't enough so I pour in a little bit more. My hands slipped and the whole bag emptied into the bowl—all 5 pounds of it. I guess my scream woke Sōsuke up from his nap.

Sōsuke lowered his blade and sighed in relief, "Maxi-chan, don't scare me like that."

I sniffed again, which caused Sōsuke to come closer to me. He put a hand on my head and drew me closer to him in a sort of hug. I could tell he wanted to laugh because of the way his body was shaking, but he was doing a terrible job at hiding it.

Sōsuke started to playfully ruffle my hair, "It's just batter," he crouched down to my level, "besides, you know you're a bad cook; this shouldn't surprise you."

I punched his face lightly; Sōsuke didn't say I couldn't cook to be insulting; it was a well-known fact throughout Seireitei—especially the Squad 11 members who had the pleasure of tasting my cooking that one time I had kitchen duty. Needless to say I was banned from ever entering the kitchen again, "It was supposed to be your birthday gift asshole!"

I sighed deeply and withdrew my hand. I wasn't so much angry at him than I was at me; I really wanted to do something good for him on his first birthday since we moved in together.

"Come now, I'm sure there are other **gifts** you could give me for my birthday." Sōsuke ran a hand through my hair and proceeded to rub my cheek with his thumb. His thumb inched towards my lips parting them slightly as he leaned in, but I was too upset to get turned on by this.

I grabbed onto Sōsuke's hand, "I'm sure I could, but I worked so hard on it."

I spent hours trying to get the recipe right. It was bad enough that I was a bad cook to begin with, but what was worse was that I was too strong for my own good. At one point or another I ended up breaking some kitchenware because I was beating the batter too hard. Then I found out that I didn't even need to beat it, and that just started a whole chain of bad cooking related events. Our kitchen ceiling will forever be yellow dotted with brown chocolate chips.

Rose told me that this was the best gift I could give Sōsuke for his birthday because it would really show my efforts (considering how bad of a chef I was). I found the instructions and the recipe, and I thought it would be so simple that even a cooking illiterate like I couldn't mess it up. Oh boy was I proven wrong.

Sōsuke sighed and stood up, making his way to the bowl of batter. He dipped his finger in the batter and popped it in his mouth, "It's not that bad."

I looked at him with a face that said it all, "You're joking right?"

"See for yourself." I moved over to try some, rather reluctantly, as much as I loved salt, this was a bit much; however, Sōsuke beat me to the punch.

He took some more batter and popped it into his mouth before kissing me fully on mine. I could feel the batter, guided by his mouth, moving into mine. If I didn't love salt so much I probably would have gagged at the flavor, but fortunately I did. There was just something about this that tasted so much better than usual; so much more salty. When he finished what he set out to do, he took his mouth off of mine as I gasped, greedy for air, "See, you could barely taste the salt."

'_That sly devil.'_ I thought lightly glaring at him.

"Unfortunately I like salt; that little bit wasn't enough."

Sōsuke grinned rather mischievously and continued the process. Thus began our tradition: every year I would try to bake cookies for Sōsuke only to mess up for the same reason every year, and he'd try to cheer me up the same way every year.

I began to love salt more and more to a point that every time I tasted anything even remotely salty, all I could see and think of was him.

* * *

I ran to the nearest trashcan and emptied out everything in my stomach.

'_Lady Maximilienne! Are you alright?'_

I couldn't answer Sebastian; all I could see was that** monster**. I couldn't stand salt; I couldn't stand being reminded of all the things he and I did together.

Aizen took away so much more than just my friends; he took away my way of living. I'm cautious around who I trust, I'm cautious about what I eat, I even went as far as to replace parts of my body because I didn't want any attachment to him.

I can't wait to get my chance at him.

I didn't notice that the three women ran to my side. Black Canary was apologizing profoundly, Huntress was rubbing my back, and Vixen got me a napkin to wipe my lips and some water for me to get rid of the taste in my mouth.

'_They're like mother birds Mi'Lady, more so on Miss Canary's side.'_

I didn't want to answer Sebastian. I felt guilty; I would protect these women with my life, but I don't know if I could trust them to protect mine. No, I couldn't. I've only known them for a few months; that's not enough time to trust anyone.

Aizen showed me that.

* * *

I won't admit it to him, but Sebastian was right; the female League members often acted like "Mother Hens". I figured that it was their maternal instincts kicking in. Often times back in the Soul Society whenever there were new members of Squad Thirteen or Eight, they would often treat me in a similar manner; they acted like worry warts—worrying about ever little thing "bad" thing that happened to me. They were often fresh out of the Academy, so they didn't know that I was a Lieutenant; they often thought I was a child going to visit Jyuushiro and Shunsui.

If anyone was a child it was The Flash.

He's a man that, I think, acts more like a child than an adult, but whenever the situation turns serious so does he; he always has your back whenever you need it. Like the time he took the blame for me after I "accidentally" dismantled the remote controller to the big screen television in the Fourth Lobby beyond repair.

* * *

I was cleaning out one of the sectors on Sub-Level 8 after there was a small accident concerning one of the medics who dropped their medical equipment all over the floor.

It wouldn't have been so bad if it didn't trigger a chain reaction that caused one of the technicians to spill their coffee onto the machine. If that wasn't bad enough, that caused the machine to malfunction due to a shorted out fuse. And if **that** wasn't bad enough, it caused a small explosion of electrical parts from the machine to scatter all throughout the floor.

If **that** wasn't bad enough, the heat from the electrical circuits around the parts melted some of the parts after it shorted out. This caused a huge mess within the room; some of the parts were even stuck on the **ceiling**.

But I couldn't complain; this was my job after all. I didn't have to like it, but I couldn't complain.

It took me about three hours to clean up the area; it would have been faster if I was able to use Shunpo, but there were cameras everywhere; I couldn't run the risk of being discovered.

'_For all that is holy and righteous, sometimes I wonder __**why**__ I couldn't just straight up tell the League about the War.'_

'_Because the chances of them attacking you were much higher than the chances of them believing you Mi'Lady. I was against this in the beginning, and I still very much am, but you know as well as I do that they're still very much bitter about the Thanagarian invasion. Gaining their trust before putting them into a bad situation could be the difference between gaining their help and having two laser beams burn a hole through your forehead.'_

'_It was a rhetorical question Sebastian.'_

I walked out of the hallway and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. Shinigami or not, anyone would be exhausted after all that cleaning; after getting this job I had an even higher sense of respect for the Squad 4 members. It didn't help that I had to be as thorough as possible or we ran the risk that the machines would catch on fire because the melted parts were still able to conduct electricity. Without a current to go through, it'll burn up again (quite literally).

I passed by the Fourth Lobby. It was, as its name suggested, the fourth lobby room in the Watchtower. Most of my cleaning originated in the kitchens, the heroes' individual rooms, and the lobbies. Sometimes I felt like I was taking care of a group full of rowdy teenagers (and in a literal way, I was, due to the age differences).

There was food on the floor, on the tables, on the **ceiling**, and just everywhere. The pillows were disorganized as well as some of the sofa cushions, and some of the chairs were toppled over.

I know that everyone needs to kick back and relax sometimes, but I am neither their maid nor their mother. They should learn to pick up after themselves. I understand that in the event that they're called to a mission, they wouldn't have the time to clean up, but if you don't want to clean it up, then don't make a mess!

'_Sometimes I wonder if this is worse than the manhole. At least the __**ceiling**__ of the sewers was somewhat cleaner than here.'_

It took me about an hour to finish sprucing up the room, and by the time I was done, it was time for my break. Since I was already in the lobby I decided to use it for my break; I just didn't feel like meeting up with the other League members after all the work I just had to do.

The lobbies usually weren't used by the staff members, but it wasn't forbidden for staff members to utilize it. It was like the gym; staff members are free to use it, but no one does because the heroes usually, unintentionally, intimidate the members into not using the facilities.

I certainly wasn't scared of them; I was both older and more experienced that the majority of the League (save for possibly Wonder Woman and J'onn).

'_Lady Maximilienne!_ _Lady Maximilienne! Lady Maximilienne!'_

'_**What?**__' _I groaned in my head; I couldn't have ten minutes of silence._  
_

'_Oh, oh, turn on the television! Please Mi'Lady! Wang Zi Bian Qing Wa is __**ON**__!'_

'_Prince change frog?'_

'_Mi'Lady! It is The Prince Who Turned Into a Frog! It is an __**amazing **__drama Mi'Lady!'_

I wasn't worried about whether the League had the channel or not (odds were they had every channel of every nation in more than one world).

'_Really…what's it about?' _Now I should have known better than to ask Sebastian about what his dramas were about, but I was tired, and unfortunately I wasn't thinking straight.

'_Oh it is wonderful Mi'Lady. You see, there's this man, Shan Jun Hao, the CEO to a large hotel chain, whose the stereotypical heir – spoiled, coldhearted, and ruthless. He meets Ye Tian Yu, a schemer and somewhat of a gold-digger and after a series of events, Tian Yu "accidentally" runs Jun Hao over. Turns out, Jun Hao has lost all of his memories and became a kindhearted and loving person. Just when love is in the air, Jun Hao's family came looking for him and he has a fiancée who loves and misses him. Some more "accidents" occurred, and Jun Hao lost all of his memories of Tian Yu and went back to being a spoiled heir. However, Tian Yu fights for their love even though Jun Hao thinks of her as a lying schemer. The story is just so compelling! So loving! So…'_

'_Cliché, do we have to watch it? Sounds like another boring love drama.'_

'_Love dramas are not boring Mi'Lady! How dare you! You who blanks out in broad daylight! You who cannot pay attention to the slightest thing! You Mi'Lady are the boring one! You who walked right into a man…'_

'_Okay, okay. Geez…I don't see how walking into a manhole was boring, but whatever.' _I reached for the remote and flipped to the Asianic channels.

'_Let's see…Korean channels, Vietnamese channels, Laotian channels, Malaysian channels, Filipino, Japanese, Taiwanese, Chaozhou, Indian, Shanghainese…'_

'_Why is the most popular Asian language not here!'_

'_Found Cantonese…'_

'_**It's Mandarin!**__'_

'_Alright, don't have a cow…Burmese, Tibetan…' _Personally I didn't know what most of the languages sounded like; I traveled the world, but that didn't mean that I learned every language; I was lucky to know English, and the only reason why I don't have a British accent is because I mostly hung around Ryuuken and Souken while I was in Britain. The two of them learned American-English before arriving in Britian, and they were the ones to teach me; therefore, I have an American accent.

The only reason why I knew which channel had which language was because it showed it on the upper right hand corner whenever I changed the channel.

'_**Mi'Lady! Search harder! We're missing the beginning!**__' _

Unfortunately for Sebastian, and me as well in the long run, his outburst surprised me and I dropped the remote. It felt as if everything was moving in slow motion as the remote clanked on the ground.

I picked it up and tried to flip the channels, but the remote wouldn't work.

Inside of my head I could hear Sebastian freaking out and throwing one of his Male PMS tantrums again.

I looked the remote over; twisting and turning it this way and that. I even tried hitting it and it didn't do anything.

'_Maybe if I…'_

'_**NO! No Mi'Lady! Don't even **__**think**__** about it!**__'_

'_What're you talking about? I'm great at taking things apart.'_

'_But you can't __**ever**__ put them __**back**__** together**__! You're worse than all the King's men!'_

'_Just trust me on this Sebastian. I'm too short to reach the top of the T.V. to change the channel, and there might be cameras in the room; I'm not going to risk getting caught jumping 10 feet in the air by the League members; I'm not going to make these last few months a waste because you didn't get to see your Frog Prince show.'_

Despite Sebastian's protests, and warnings, I started to dismantle the remote. I figured that I'd be able to figure out what was going wrong with the remote if I got a better look inside.

'_I don't understand why people hit their remotes instead of doing the logical thing and taking it apart. What does anyone hope to fix by destroying their remote?'_

'_I could ask you the same question Mi'Lady! Don't touch that!'_

I began to twiddle with the remote; taking it apart bit by bit.

'_Mi'Lady not that! No no no no no, that's not removable!'_

Needless to say, I didn't listen to what Sebastian said and after 10 minutes, the remote was completely disassembled. Bigger problem, I didn't know how to put it back together.

Unfortunately for me, The Flash decided to walk in at that moment.

"Hey Max, what's….u…p?" He walked over and picked up what was left or the remote, "Woah, what tore up the remote?"

'_Great, now I have to put on the kid act again.'_

"I…I didn't mean to…I…I…it d-didn't work…and…and" I looked up at him with watery eyes and I sniffed to overdramatize it a bit. I was hoping that he would fill in the blanks himself because I wasn't sure what I was going to say. Somehow, "I'm going to take it apart because I like to disassemble things," didn't sound right in my head.

"Hey, hey," He pet my head which pushed my fedora over my eyes, "its cool kiddo. We just have to replace it before anyone else…"

And just my luck, Vigilante and the Shining Knight walked in.

"This _Clint Eastwood_ fellow, I dare say, besmirches his orders time and time again. He certainly doesn't, how do you say, _play by the rules_?"

"Sir Justin, you truly are uneducated in the ways of the movin' pictures. I know one particu'ler movie that'll have you worshipin' the path that Mister Clint Eastwood walks on."

"I still believe that…"

Sir Justin paused in his statement and looked at Vigilante. Vigilante looked at Flash, who looked back and then to Sir Justin, then Sir Justin looked at me after looking at the Flash, then Vigilante looked at me before turning back to look at Sir Justin who looked back at Vigilante. Then the both of them caught eye of the remote.

'_Ah~ man! Shit's gonna hit the fan now.' _I forgot that the Fourth Lobby, the one with the big screen T.V. with the 5.1 surround sound, was the main hangout area of Vigilante and the Shining Knight; Vigilante **owned** the T.V. (why he brought it from his actual home I'll never understand); therefore, he owned the remote.

Vigilante loved his T.V., which constantly played Clint Eastwood films, almost as much as his guns and his motorbike. I was in deep trouble; no amount of acting will get me out of this.

"Wh…What in tar nations did you do to my remote?"

For once in this old Shinigami's life, I wasn't able to think of an excuse. I couldn't exactly say, "Hey my sword disguised as a pocket watch wanted to watch an Asian drama movie but he scared me so I dropped your remote. I tried to take it apart, but it wouldn't go back together again."

Yeah, that was more than likely to get me killed…again.

I was about to speak up but Flash beat me to the punch; I flinched slightly fearing for the worst; Vigilante had one hell of a temper, "It was me."

"I thought it'd be cool to show Max how a remote works and I guess I broke it." I slowly opened my eyes to peer at Flash.

"You guess? Why you no good scally waggin'," Vigilante inched closer towards Flash, "when I get my hands on you…"

The Flash lightly pat my fedora smiling his goofy smile and sped off with Vigilante looking like he was about to give chase.

My face flushed ever so slightly. It wasn't that I was feeling anything romantic towards Flash, but I can't say I wasn't touched. But the flush disappeared from my face as quickly as it came as a wave of nostalgia washed over me; I was reminded of how Jyuushiro used to take the blame for me after I pranked his best friend Shunsui, because he knew Shunsui wouldn't do anything to him. Shunsui, of course, knew it was me, but he played along anyways.

Just as I got up from the couch I saw Vigilante at the doorway. He winked at me before turning out the door and yelling, "Come back here ya no good remote killer!"

Only one thing went through my mind, Vigilante knew the truth; he was just…playing along.

We never did get to watch that drama.

* * *

Vigilante…Shining Knight, remembering the "remote" event, brought them both to my attention. They were like brothers to me, and I couldn't help but feel like I let them down. Was it my fault that the Hollows were attacking the Watchtower? As far as I knew, the idea wasn't all that farfetched.

Even I have to admit, that in the short time that I've known them, I've grown quite attached to them. Did I love them more than Aizen? Of course. Did I love them more than the illusion of Aizen that I initially thought I feel in love with? Just maybe.

It wasn't until after the Hollowfication incident that I realized just how little I've known about Aizen, but Vigilante…I knew so much about him—his personality, his identity, his obsession with Clint Eastwood, all of it. And I knew just as much about him as I did with Sir Justin.

Looking into their eyes now, I considered the thought, "Maybe they are my friends." But then I snapped back to reality. Though I highly doubt it, even if they were, they sure weren't going to be after this. Could I trust them? Not if they couldn't trust me. Aren't I ever the hypocrite?

Locking my eyes firming on Vigilante's, I remembered our heart-to-heart conversation a while back. It was the conversation that made me fear his reaction towards this very situation.

* * *

I was on my third break and I just finished cleaning up an accident in the Second Kitchen on Sub-Level 3.

Apparently The Creeper freaked out Crimson Fox after he jumped on one of the tables making her accidentally shoot her pheromones at Ice and Fire—freaking them out. The two of them shot their respectable elements at opposing parts of the room.

Luckily no one was hit, but food exploded in different directions due to the blasts. Apparently some of the foods were flying towards Vibe and Starman, and they thought it would have been a good idea to deflect the food with their powers.

The food ended up hitting Elongated Man who promptly screamed out, "Food Fight!", and thus began the hardship I've come to know as…cleaning.

'_I swear, they're just like children.'_

'_They even lack the poise and posture when fighting with the food Mi'Lady. No technique.'_

I looked around the room, _'I can't believe it took that long to clean the ceiling. Did any of the food even get __**on**__ the floor? You know what, why don't we just turn the Watchtower upside down so I'd get a chance to clean the floor sometime? Hey Sebastian, remember the time when I said that there was nothing dirtier than the inside of that manhole?'_

'_Yes.'_

'_I take it back. Cleaning up__** this**__," _I swept my hand across the air, motioning to the ceiling, "_was much worse.' _

During this break I was originally supposed to meet up with Hawkgirl to discuss the properties of the Nth metal in her mace, but she was busy on a mission, so I decided that I'd take my lunch break later and meet up with Vigilante to learn how to use guns again.

Turning around the corridor I spotted Vigilante making his way to the lobby, "Hey Vig, how's it going?"

"Hey there little critter. What can I do you for?" He plucked my hat from my head and ruffled my hair before setting the fedora back down.

I grunted a bit in annoyance and muttered a silent mantra in my head, _'One more month, one more month and I can drop the child act. Just __**one**__ more month!'_

At first acting like a child wasn't all that bad, in fact it had its benefits. But when everyone was treating me like I was a little over five instead of a little over five hundred, it can get pretty annoying.

"Could you teach me how to use a gun again?"

"Sure thing Lil' Lady. I was headin' to the shootin' gallery myself." Yeah right, that's why you were heading to the lobby. I wasn't going to be complaining though.

Vigilante and I began to talk about random events that occurred throughout our lives on our way to the shooting gallery. One particular topic caught my eye—what happened to Vigilante during the Thanagarian invasion.

"Those good fer nothin' Hawks went and darn captured me. Humiliated me. That Hawkgirl's a good fer nothin' traitor; I'd stop hangin' 'round her so much if I were you."

"She's not that bad Vig; just give her a chance."

"After what her people god darn did to me? Not a chance."

"You know, my first Cap…uche…"

"Your first what?"

"You know, Capuche. A hood…cowl…thing?"

"I think we're gettin' a little off topic here."

'_Shit, I almost talked about Captain Ryoku.'_

"Just hear me out Vig. You see, my first…capuche was given to my by a very close friend of mine. He was strong, valiant, and he earned the respect of everyone. Despite all previous attachments he was well respected. To call him amazing would be an understatement. He was one of the greatest people I've ever come to know."

I wanted to say that he was like a brother that I never wanted but I got stuck with so eventually I learned to tolerate and grow to care for. I wanted to say that it was only with him around that Squad 11 ever received any respect from anyone. I wanted to say how much I missed him and how much I wished he didn't die at the hands of that barbarian and sorry excuse for a Captain, Gosuke Kiganjō, but I truly am getting off topic.

"Sorry darlin', but how's this relevant?"

"His favorite saying was 'I don't care where you're from, how old you are, or what your records look like. I'm not going to force you to stay but I'm not going to tell you to leave. The only thing I want is strength. Nothing else matters.' Sometimes I wondered if he a few loose screws in his head, but working alongside him…at…my caretaker's shop, he proved to be a man that I respected above all else."

"Sorry darlin', I'm still don't get it. How's this related to them Hawkpeople?"

I sighed and shook my head slightly, _'How much clearer could I get?'_

'_Mi'Lady, it only makes sense to you because you've know the late Captain for many, many years. You have to realize…'_

'_Rhetorical question Sebastian. Seriously, it just goes right over your head doesn't it?'_

"He never judged anyone. It didn't matter where you came from. It didn't matter if you were a rich kid from Beverly Hills or a bum who grew up in the ghettos of New York City. It didn't matter if you were as young as a toddler or as old as Confucius himself. It didn't matter if you've never hurt a fly or if you've killed off a million people in the past. All C…Ryoku cared about was whether or not you could fight now; he only wanted you if you were a good fighter now, here, in the present. He didn't care if you liked him or not, because if you didn't you didn't matter and if you did, well good for you."

"You tellin' me I shouldn't judge them; after all I went through!"

"I'm telling you to let go of the past. If there was one thing I learned from Ryoku it was that it doesn't matter who you were or what you want to become, its what you are right now that matters. Of course who you want to become is sort of important too, and that's where our views differ. But for the most part, the whole past thing was dead on. What you are shouldn't matter, what you've done shouldn't matter, as long as you're willing to redeem yourself."

"I still don't like them good fer nothin' Hawkpeople, and nothin's gonna change that."

"Not even if she apologized?"

Vigilante sighed, "You're still a youngin' so I'll give you a life lesson that I had to learn the hard way," he patted my head, "sometimes a simple sorry don't fix nothin'."

* * *

"_I'm sorry. Truly I am." That grin, he wasn't sorry for what he did. He was sorry he got caught, and I don't even think he was sorry for that._

* * *

I looked up at Vigilante. He didn't have to teach me anything, if anything I needed to teach him some life lessons. He especially didn't need to teach me that.

Seeing the anger in my eyes he probably thought he said something wrong; let him believe what he wants. Vigilante squatted down next to me at eye level and sighed again, "Look, it just ain't all that easy to forget 'n forgive. But if that Hawkgirl ever does apologize, I'll consider acceptin'. How's 'bout that?"

I looked at Vigilante, "If I ever apologize to you. For something, for anything that I've done, would you forgive me?"

"I figure I can. Of course if you take apart my remote controller again, I'll probably have to reconsider."

Despite Vigilante's attempts to lighten up the mood I just couldn't lighten up with it, "I mean it Vig. If I was to do something…on…on let's just say for example…just for example…I mean…hypothetically…on Shayera's level. Would you?"

Vigilante's eyes knitted together and his brow furrowed, "What?"

"Would you?" I looked at him and he did the one thing I didn't expect him to do; Vigilante laughed it off like a joke.

"What in tarnations are you talkin' 'bout Max?"

'_Well there go my chances.'_

He ruffled my fedora slightly, "O' course I would. Unlike them Hawkpeople, yer my friend and I trust you; if it ever came down to it, I think y'all deserve a second chance."

We continued on our walk, but I was no more at ease after Vigilante's exclamation than I was before it. Why? Simple, Vigilante wasn't taking it seriously; he just saw me as a kid that needed reassurance that he'd never be that angry with me. If push came to shove, I don't know whether or not Vigilante really would give me a second chance.

* * *

Vigilante's response to the whole "hypothetical" situation made me think, it made me doubt, and worse of all, it made me worry; Vigilante's response made me remember that most of the League members suffered from the betrayal of the Thanagarians—some worse than others.

If I was to show the same betrayal, I don't know what they'd do to me. For all I know they could drop their whole "no killing" rule and get rid of me if they wanted to; there's no way I could take on all the League members on my own; I'm skilled, but not invincible.

"Little one," I looked up to see Shining Knight placed his hand on my shoulder, "…what is…what is going on? Explain yourself."

'_I swear, you Shunpo one time in front of them and they think you're the devil.'_

'_Yes, but you must see it from their point of view Mi'Lady: bizarre creatures are attacking their base, someone they thought was just your average vertically challenged janitor turns out to be someone, or in their views something, they're not, and they're still recovering from the emotional backlash of the Hawkpeople's invasion. From this assessment, it isn't surprising that they're weary of us.'_

I lightly touched my jaw, _'Yeah, but did Ted have to go and punch me? It didn't hurt but still.'_

'_He is the one that holds the most animosity towards metas. Finding out that you had powers would be no different than when you found out that Aizen was…well, you know.'_

'_Yes he feels betrayed, but still to hit me? What happened to the whole "She's just a kid" thing?'_

'_Do you want them to treat you like a child in this situation?'_

'_That's not the point. Anyways, panicking isn't going to do any of us any good right now.'_

"I know you all have a lot of questions, but right now isn't the time. I'll explain it to you all lat…"

"No! Explain everything now, or we're taking you down." After Vixen finished her statement everyone got into a defensive stance, some with their weapons rearing to fire.

I looked, Vixen, Shining Knight, even Green Arrow was prepared to fire at me. The only one who wasn't rearing to fire was The Question, and that's only because he slightly knew the situation.

I ran my fingers through my hair; now was not the time to be arguing. Every second we waste here talking is another second that the League has to fend off the Hollows.

'_And __**you**__ didn't want to tell them the situation.'_

'_Yes, and look at their expressions; they're hesitant. If there's one thing Aizen taught me it's that if you have fond memories of someone, it's harder to take them out. If I didn't need their help I would have taken them down eons ago. Or at least fought my way through them.'_

"Look, just ask Q. I'm not the enemy here."

The League members, save for The Question, turned to look at him.

"Q?," Huntress narrowed her eyes slightly at The Question—what The Question saw in Huntress I would never know; she's rash and trigger happy. I respected her whole-heartedly, but she was a bit **too** honest for my liking sometimes—"What's she talking about?"

"Wait so now we're listening to The Question? Of all people…"

Huntress and Black Canary started to argue about their stances on the situation.

"Enough! Look, I know you guys don't trust me, but at least trust in Q's trust in me." Oh why, oh why didn't I tell someone more credible than The Question? Where's Batman and J'onn when you need them?

"Q's a wackjob," Huntress turned to The Question, "no offense."

The Question turned his head a big, possibly in anger but I can't exactly read a face I can't see, "None…taken."

"That's not convincing enough." Huntress continued.

"Look, I've had plenty of chances to take you guys out, but I've never taken any of them."

"Right, as if you could."

"Yes Wildcat, I **can**."

Wildcat walked closer and put his face in front of mine; our noses were touching, "Oh yeah? Prove it." No sooner had Wildcat finished his challenge did knock one of my knuckles into his diaphragm.

Wildcat gasped, most likely feeling the wind knocked out of him, before he kneeled on the floor.

"Don't ever insinuate that I'm weak ever again." Something inside of me just snapped.

* * *

"_Oh yeah? Prove it." He looked at me with those eyes; he was mocking me._

* * *

The entire Watchtower shook once again as the force field noticeably flickered. I could tell that it wasn't going to hold up for much longer; its color was fading and there weren't as many fibers visible as there were before. I had to do something, and quick, "Believe what you want; I don't care anymore. We don't have time for this."

I looked at their faces one last time before I prepared to speed off to Sector L-52 to get the oxygen mask. I lied to them—that much was evident. I **lied** to them, but I would never trick them. Unfortunately they didn't know that, and I didn't have the time to convince them otherwise.

As I turned to leave I felt someone grab my arm, "Wait."

I turned around to see myself looking in the eyes of The Flash. I looked at his face, my friend, my companion, "What? Look, we don't have time for thi…"

"I'm coming with you. Look, I'm not exactly sure what's going on," Flash turned towards the other League members, "but Max hasn't done anything to make us mistrust her before."

Flash turned back to me and smiled, "If you don't find Q's trust credible, then maybe you'll find mine to be."

I suppose being a Founder and feeling first hand the full blunt of the Thanagarian invasion's treachery gave Flash more than enough credibility as the remaining members dropped their stances.

Wildcat, unfortunately, still didn't look too convinced, "One thing, if she does one thing out of line…"

"I'll take full responsibility." Flash lifted my fedora and ruffled my hair before setting it back.

I lightly swatted his hand, "No need," I smiled just a bit. I was truly happy that all those toilets cleaned paid off, "I'm not using any of you."

I could see that the League members present, save for The Question and The Flash, were still hesitant, but for the most part they didn't argue the point any further.

"I need to get to Sector L-52 stat. The source of the Hollows is somewhere outside, so that's where I'll need to go." I looked out the window to see the League members fighting, or at least attempting to fight, off the Hollows. "Except for Dr. Fate, none of the League members are even grazing the Hollows. At this rate they'll die."

At that moment Obsidian and Waverider crashed into the Watchtower's force field, "This isn't good, I have to get out there **now**."

Something was going on with the power generator; my guess was that the last power surge really did a number on it.

The power generator was going on and off. It wasn't broken; it was just, for lack of better terms, "static-y". I could only bet that it was because of the Hollows, but I don't understand why; they didn't excrete any spiritual energy or pressure, so why were the generators being affected?

It made even less sense since the generators were internal, then something clicked, "There are Hollows in the building!"

Shining Knight was the first to respond, "Pardon me, but what is this Hollow you speak of?"

"They're the things that are attacking the Watchtower. Wait Max, how do you know they're in here?"

I turned to Green Arrow and gave him the answer that was painfully obvious, "Why else would the generators be going on and off?"

Flash answered my question with another painfully obvious solution, "You haven't been in the Watchtower for very long so you probably don't know, but there are switches on the outside of the Watchtower."

"Outside? What for?" Vixen asked.

"For emergencies. Bats said that it was just in case we ever got locked out again like the time we fought Brainiac with Static and Gear."

"Makes about as much sense as anything else." I turned back towards the League members. I'll never be able to tell them how sorry I am for lying to them, but now was not the time for me to get sentimental (not like I ever did), "Look, does anyone know a faster way to Sector L-52? We're running out of time here. The force field's losing power, and fast. I've used up most of my energy running G.A. and Q. this far. Is there a shorter way or something?"

"Wait, why did you run with us in the first place?" Green Arrow looked at me in confusion.

"Because I couldn't very well leave you alone in a highly unpopulated sector of the Watchtower. The two of you wouldn't be able to defend yourselves if anything happened."

"I'll take you," I looked over at The Flash and nodded, "Alright then. The rest of you do whatever you want and can, but stay together. When you fight against Hollows, there really is strength in numbers. Not like you guys could see them, but if by some chance you're able to make enough of an outline of them to see their body structure, aim for the mask; aim for their heads. It's the fastest and easiest way to k…defeat them." I refrained from using the word **kill**; I didn't know how they would take it.

"I doubt you'd be able to hit them with your weapons, but in the event that you're able to just remember that the mask is their greatest weakpoint." As well as their greatest strength if they fire a cero, but hopefully it won't come to that.

They all nodded, even Wildcat to my surprise. If they didn't trust me as a person, at least they trusted me enough to take my advice; they're going to need it.

"Wait, if we can't see it, how come you can?" Wildcat asked.

"Because I was trained to fight them…all my life."

"Max, let us come with you."

"No offense Vixen, but you'll only slow me down. Sebastian's help is all I need to get rid of them."

"Sebastian? Yer compadre from Japan? He's here?"

"Yup Vig; right here." I patted Sebastian lightly to emphasis his location.

"Little one, I'm not trying to question you; however, how is your friend…"

"Sebastian is my friend, but he's also my sword."

"Oh..." I could tell that he was a little more than confused.

"Sir Justin, he's as real as you and I…sort of. Look, it's hard to explain and I promise to explain it to you in more detail later I promise, but if you have to, think of Sebastian like Excalibur. He is as much my partner as Excalibur is to you." Of course Sebastian is a spirit with amazing abilities, but he doesn't have to know Sebastian's ability; it's an ability better shown than explained. As far as I'm concerned, the author's going to go into depth about it next chapter, so if Sir Justin could just wait that long to find out then we're all good.

Shining Knight nodded, if anyone could understand the bond between a Zanpakutō and a Shinigami in the living world it would be Sir Justin.

"Let's go Flash." I got on Flash's back and as we were running I thanked him, "Thank you Flash," he turned around slightly, still keeping his eyes on the road, "for believing in me."

It took us all but 10 seconds to reach the storage room of Sector L-52 to retrieve the oxygen mask. Flash was much faster than I was by far and he wasn't even remotely short of breath.

Flash patted my shoulder once I got off, "Hey, like Supes said, "Everyone deserves a second chance.'"

He ruffled my hair once more, only this time he didn't take off the fedora, "Besides, I think I'm a pretty good judge of character."

"Really now. And how would you judge me?" I asked him as I went to put on the oxygen mask. It looked like a normal oxygen mask only it wasn't attached to anything. The oxygen came out of the two red tubes sticking out of the sides of the mask that held the oxygen. The Question was right, there's only about ten minutes worth in here if I were to breathe normally; I'd have to use the oxygen sparingly. Good thing for me, ten minutes was more than enough time.

"A-OK in my book!" He smiled that goofy grin and gave me a quick thumbs up.

I smiled a genuinely relieved smile. With three Founding members on my side, and hopefully Superman will be as well when I tell him, it'll be that much easier convincing the rest of the League that I mean no harm.

'_Things are finally looking up Mi'Lady.'_

Suddenly something jolted the entire Watchtower. Tremors shook through the Watchtower as the force field died. I ran outside of the storage room followed by The Flash. The Hollows started to break into the Watchtower by tearing open the hatches and breaking through the windows.

I've been to Hueco Mundo a few times in my day for retrieval and research missions (as Squad 11 was considered one of the "tougher" Squads that could take on the Hollows), and there has only been one time in which this many Hollows came after me at one time. And if it wasn't for a certain someone, I would have never made it out alive.

"You just **had** to say something!"

I promptly smacked Sebastian before unsheathing him. I just hoped that the others would be fairing alright, because at this point, there's nothing I could do to help them.

To say that this scene was frightening would be lying, I was brimming with excitement.

"Flash stay behind me," before Flash could argue with me I pushed him behind me, "don't even think about it. You can't see them let alone fight them. Besides, I need to let off some steam."

The first wave of Hollows were low-level unintellectual Menos, "You're a century overdue for a beating!"

I brought down Sebastian on the first Hollow that resembled a fish with legs. The Hollows began to back down a bit after seeing their friend slain.

It was obvious from their expressions; these Hollows didn't expect to be slain. That could only mean one thing: the Justice League was the target, not I. How was I able to deduce that from a single reaction? That was simple; their eyes showed immense confidence and the second I slew their ally their eyes showed me nothing but fear. As I continued to cut down the Hollows, my theory was solidified; some of the Hollows were too afraid to even fight back.

"Flash, follow me." I couldn't afford to cut down all of them. As much as I wanted to have my fun and go ballistic on these Hollows, I had to get outside. The sooner I found the source of these Hollows, the sooner the League would be saved.

I only cut the Hollows in my way and any Hollows that were aiming for Flash.

These Hollows weren't very strong or very smart, so they were easy to cut down. I was lucky that I didn't run into anything at a Gillian or Adjuchas level and I was thanking all the Gods that I didn't face any Vasto Lordes, or I'd be in trouble; it was hard to defend Flash and fight off the Hollows as it was based on sheer number alone.

When I got outside to where the stronger Hollows were, that's when I'd be faced with the real fights. Oh boy was I ever excited; I haven't had a real fight in a century. I was way overdue.

I found the group again who was running in our direction, only this time Zatanna and a many other League members: Nemesis, Crimson Avenger, and B'wana Beast to name a few, joined the group.

"Max, what the hell's going on?" Green Arrow and the others were desperately trying to get a grasp on the situation; however, only Zatanna was able to even see the Hollows. The hatches that were opening due to the Hollows were causing air to be sucked out; it was very difficult to hear what everyone was saying.

I ignored Green Arrow's question and ran towards Zatanna, "I'll explain everything later, but for now protect the League members in here! Aside from you, I'm willing to bet that no one else would be able to get rid of the Hollows! Concentrate your attack on the mask; break that and the Hollow will be destroy!"

"Got it!" I was glad that Zatanna wasn't asking or saying anything, but as far as I was concerned, she probably knew all along and just didn't care. That or the situation was too dire for her **to** care.

"I have to go out and help the other League members!" After I said that I heard Shining Knight yell in pain and surprise.

He couldn't see it, but he was being grabbed by a rather large hollow with a diamond shaped mask. It was at least ten feet tall and it had three arms—two on the side and one in its chest.

There was a Hollow hole a little under the third arm that was currently holding Sir Justin.

Before I could go and do anything Sir Justin used Excalibur to slice off the Hollow's arm out of reflex. I doubt that it was as much skill as it was luck, but luck can be considered a skill as well I guess.

"Woah! What the hell is that?"

"Oh my god!"

"Holy shit!"

I turned to Flash after he cursed, "What? What's going on?" I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"That monster…thing! Is that what a Hollow is?"

"Wait, I thought you said you couldn't see it!"

"We couldn't, until Sir Justin hit it! Is it down?"

The monster wasn't down and it was angrier than ever; Sir Justin managed to harm it, not kill it.

'_This doesn't make any sense. How can they see it one minute and not the next?'_

I was suddenly hit with a theory and I turned to yell for Zatanna, "Zatanna! Hit that Hollow with some of your magic!"

Complying to my wishes without argument, man did I love this girl, Zatanna shot a stream of, what looked like, light at the Hollow that Shining Knight just attacked.

I quickly turned Flash's head to look at the scene, "Do you see it again?" It didn't matter if I could see it, what mattered was if the League members could see it.

"Yeah! That thing's **huge**!"

'_So that's how it works.'_

"Zatanna, see if you can let out a wave of magic to coat the Hollows!"

I think Zatanna, after seeing what happened understood what I wanted to do. I figured it out. As long as magic was present, the Hollows were visible to humans. Why? That's simple. Magic is the middle ground for spirits and the living; magic can be used by both the living and spirits.

"You got it!"

Zatanna let out what looked like a sonic wave. It was like she let off a wave of spiritual energy off; it didn't hurt anyone, it just coated them with a "magic-ky" substance.

I could hear gasps of shock and horror come from all around the vicinity.

Out of instinct, most League members began to fight the Hollows, "Everyone, aim for the masks!" Zatanna yelled out.

Doing as Zatanna instructed I was blessed with another heavenly surprise. Although Zatanna couldn't attack anyone as long as she was letting out the wave of magic, the wave of magic allowed the other members to be able to hit the Hollows, and, in some cases, destroy them. Remember what I said about objects that were even lightly coated with spiritual energy being able to harm Hollows? This was the same situation, only in reverse; the magic coating the Hollows wrapped around the weapon/appendage of the attacker as they hit the Hollow, thus coating **them **in spiritual energy. It was a stroke of genius born from trial and error.

Things were finally looking up.

Shining Knight ran towards me, "Little One, you are going to go outside yes?"

I nodded my head swiftly as he outstretched Excalibur towards me, "Could you give this to Superman? He would find it of much better use than I."

I shook my head, "No he wouldn't. Remember what I told you about Sebastian Justin? Same rule applies to Excalibur. He is **your** partner and you are the only one who knows how to use him to his full extent. Superman isn't trained with a sword; he might hurt himself with it; he's already weak against magic and what I plan for Dr. Fate to do might weaken him to a point where he'll be useless in battle. Strong as he is he's a hand-to-hand combat fighter not a sword fighter. It'd be like giving me a gun."

I lightly pushed Excalibur back towards Shining Knight as he nodded his head and went back into the fray. Looking around, the League wasn't doing too shabby. Now is hardly the time to marvel, but I can't help but feel giddy inside; we found a way for the League to help, Kisuke doesn't have to find out that I found out on accident. What he doesn't know won't embarrass me.

I ran to The Flash and patted his shoulder before he was about to charge into the fray, "I'm going to go outside now, you and the other members, cover my back!"

Flash nodded swiftly, and he began to cover me as I jumped out one of the hatches and hit the hollow that was holding it open before turning on the oxygen mask by pushing the button on the side. I was surprised to see that all the windows that were broken were now covered up by a metal screen. It was probably yet **another** failsafe of the Watchtower.

I charged outside pushing Spiritual Energy into my feet so I'd be able to run rather than float aimlessly in space.

I needed to get to Doctor Fate so that he could do the same thing Zatanna did.

Before I could get to him, however, I fought through an entire swarm of Hollows all gearing towards me. Why? Because I had the most Spiritual Energy out the entire bunch; it was like putting cake in front of a fat boy, he just couldn't resist.

I aligned Sebastian with the length of my leg and kicked the first Hollow that came after me. The strength from my kick and the strength of Sebastian's blade made a clean and easy cut through it.

I quickly sheathed Sebastian and pushed up from the "ground" with my arms and spun on them with my legs outstretched. It didn't kill any Hollows, but it pushed them back enough for me to take them by surprise.

A couple of Bird Hollows came in my direction and I pushed off from the non-existent ground and sent a flying punch towards one of their beaks. I flipped over the one I just punched and used it as a spring board backwards to send a quick uppercut with the back of my right heel right under the other Bird Hollow's mask effectively ripping it off and killing it.

After about a dozen, I didn't know how much longer I could take; the lack of Spiritual Energy would kill me at this rate; even with the oxygen mask I could barely breathe. I didn't want to release Sebastian just yet, but if this continued, I'd have no other choice.

After 2.1 minutes I was finally beside Doctor Fate as he tried his best to assist the League members. I could tell that he was having great difficulty doing so; he was the only one who was able to see the Hollows.

"Dr. Fate!"

He quickly turned around, "Young Max? What're you doing here?"

"I'll explain later. I need you to do something." I started to explain what I needed him to do with, what I called, the "magic wave".

Stupid name, but I'm just making this up as I go along.

Doctor Fate seemed a bit reluctant, either because he wasn't sure if was going to work or whatever, but we couldn't afford to waste time.

"Look, I only have ten minutes with this mask. I assure you, you won't hurt them Fate. It's just enough to coat them with magic, not damage them with it. Zatanna tried it already; we don't have time to waste. You won't be able to fight, but the rest of the League will. I think that's a pretty good trade off."

I put my hand on his shoulder, "But it's probably best for the Supers to go inside; they're weak against magic."

"Dr. Fate," I looked over to him as he replied, "Yes, yes I understand. You will fight as well?"

I nodded, "I have to."

He put a hand on my shoulder after I let go of his, "Be careful child."

I nodded once more.

Doctor Fate sent off the wave of magic, and knowing that I was going to be able to have cover fire while I searched for the source I was ready to begin the real fight. I got ready to release Sebastian, but what I saw in the corner of my eye nearly gave me a heart attack in my already failing soul.

I hastily released Sebastian, "Distort, Sebastian!"

I Shunpo-ed to the two figures I never thought I would see again, "Hey."

His eyes widened significantly at the sight of me, but no other words were exchanged. Instead it was the female one who voiced her surprise, "Max? What're you doing here?"

"It's been a while hasn't it?" I readied Sebastian's ability, "I know I can't win and I don't want to be making threats I can't keep, and I don't want to fight you guys, but please back down."

"Sorry," he scratched his head, "Aizen told us to take care of the Justice League."

I looked at them with sorrow in my eyes, "Please, for old times' sake."

I looked at the two people I never thought I would be fighting; Starrk Coyote and Lilynette Gingerbuck.

* * *

Wow, that took me forever to do.

Thank you all who have read and if you review, who knows, part two of the finale might be uploaded faster than you might think ;D.

All joking aside, thank you to everyone who has read and followed the story up until this point and who has encouraged me to continue writing. I hope you all enjoyed it and I hope you all found that it was well worth the wait.

I will continue to fix the remaining chapters for grammar issues and such and if you find any here, don't be afraid to tell me.

If you guys want, just tell me who you guys want to see more of as far as characters that you wish had more lines in the series but they didn't show up all too often (i.e.-Blue Devil, Aztek, etc.)

Please do review, it takes a couple of minutes but it gives me a lifetime of happiness :)

But seriously, thank you all once again. The next chapter will be the **Finale of the Janitor Arc.**

* * *

If anyone is interested, I'm hosting a small contest.

Its nothing big, and I don't think its all that rewarding, but if you're interested...

It is a competition to see who can portray (in a fanart) my main character, Maximilienne Zaraki, from "Soul Reaping Janitor of the Justice League" the best.

If you win, you'll get mention in the next chapter and I'll put your picture in my profile...

It's not the greatest reward, but if you're interested, go for it.

This is a list of everyone who has sent in a fanart:

Zephonura


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you to my lovely followers and everyone who has been keeping up with the story and wanting it to continue.

I'm sorry I haven't been updating and I don't know if I will continue to update (at least on ). It's been 2 years since I've updated the story and 4 years since I've started it. I recently stopped it because I went to college and I've just graduate (^u^ That's right I graduated a 4 year university in 3 years~ WOOOT!).

I've definitely changed in the years I've been in college, and my writing styles have changed as well; you can thank my many professors and many papers for the improvements in my writing. It's been a long time since I've written that I've completely forgotten my place in where the story is going. I've written everything I want to happen down, but…it was a few years ago so it's been a bit difficult figuring out my own sloppy handwriting.

So, for a more "active" me, feel free to check out my deviantART page at

I'm there almost every day to check up on things, so feel free to bug me as much as you want, just chat with me, and do anything. I don't know if I'll continue my story (if I do I may just restart it to make it less cluttered, flow better, etc.), but if enough people want me to feel free to message me there. I haven't had time to be on in so long and there have been a few people who have followed this story since then. So that's all I wanted to say. Feel free to bug me about art and stuff too (although I'm not very good xD).


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